


Who They Are

by SoloLad



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Are Twins, Deceit | Janus Sanders and Dr.Emile Picani are brothers, Fluff, Logic | Logan Sanders and Sleep | Remy Sanders are brothers, M/M, Morality | Patton Sanders and Anxiety | Virgil Sanders are Brothers, Romantic Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Romantic Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Romantic Platonic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, They're all friends, not sure how to tag, this will be a long fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:21:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 21,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26097811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoloLad/pseuds/SoloLad
Summary: This version of the story has no cussing, I am aware that some people dislike cussing so I made this version without cussing. There will also be violence in some of the chapters and I will be putting a warning in the beginning of that chapter then a summary of the events of said chapter in the end notes.I'm keeping the chapters short so it's easier to read, I hope you all enjoy the story.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This version of the story has no cussing, I am aware that some people dislike cussing so I made this version without cussing. There will also be violence in some of the chapters and I will be putting a warning in the beginning of that chapter then a summary of the events of said chapter in the end notes.
> 
> I'm keeping the chapters short so it's easier to read, I hope you all enjoy the story.

The five friends sat quietly on the rooftop as they tried to catch their breath. Roman and Remus leaned on each other while Patton laid close to them, Janus sitting on the ground up against a wall that Logan was using to lean against.

They stayed like that for a while till Remus sat up and threw his gloves. “Dang it!”

“Remus…” Patton sat up and put a hand on his friend's knee.

“It’s okay bro..” Roman hugged him with one arm.

“How the actual.. How is any of this okay?! All I’ve been working for is worthless.” Remus stood up causing the two attempting to comfort him to flinch.

“It’s fine Rem, although we preferred to have those villains alive, what you’ve been doing is still very much intact. None of the Villains besides Destroyer knows you’re working with us.” Janus said from his spot, removing his mask as he rubbed his face.

“Though that isn’t truly what you are upset about is it?” Logan said as he walked over to Remus.

Remus glared at him for a moment before hugging Logan. Neither of them said anything as Logan sighed and ran his fingers through Remus’s knotted curls.

“He was just playing with us Lo…” Remus murmured into the shoulder he was resting his head on.

“He could have killed us easily but didn’t. He killed three villains while fighting us… Then he found us again, for what reason?” Roman pondered as he propped his head up on his hand that rested on his knee.

“I’m really glad he didn’t kill us, but he’s killed heroes, vigilantes, and even villains in the past…” Patton frowned as he furrowed his brow.

“We need to figure out a way to take him down.” Janus shook his head before continuing, “He’s dangerous, even if he leaves the public out of his attacks he’s killing basically everyone!”

“No not everyone, like you said he’s leaving the public out of his escapades. He has killed some citizens but they were always his targets. He’s even stopped villains from hurting or killing innocents..” Logan said as he looked to the other three.

“He’s marked multiple other heroes for death, less successful ones, so why not us? Like Patton said I’m glad he didn’t, but like Remus said, he’s playing with us. Showing up where we are, fighting everyone there - kicking our butts, and then disappearing!” Roman threw his hands about as he spoke.

“Yes, and then there’s also the problem of his powers..” Logan said calmly.

“I couldn’t heal those villains… I- he did something to me. I can still feel that my healing powers are being repressed..” Patton said.

Remus pulled away from Logan and looked over, “Wait it’s still repressed?”

“Yeah, I have tried to use my healing but...” Patton shook his head.

“So the ability to suppress powers. Which may mean the flip side of that is he can cause them to flair up?” Janus tilted his head to the side as he got up and walked over to Patton and Roman, holding his hands out to his friends.

“The other one would be control of the elements right?” Roman asked as he took Janus’s hand.

“But that doesn’t make sense! Powers are always linked in some way or another.” Remus threw his hands up as he kicked his gloves.

“Perhaps he can’t control them, but manipulate? Just like how he manipulated Patton’s powers?” Logan mumbled as he picked up Remus’s gloves and handed them back to him.

“Then what about the cams? Or the fact that he literally disappears from sight? It’s impossible to have three powers. So how can he do that?” Janus inquired.

“Maybe it’s manipulation of perception?” Patton said as he allowed Janus to help him up.

“Padre, how pray tell would perception cause your powers to cease? Or do you mean him controlling the literal elements like they’re playthings is just our perceptions tricking us?” Roman asked as he stretched.

“I dunno, just a thought.” Patton shrugged.

“What time is it?” Logan asked out of the blue.

“Uh, according to the clock tower over there it’s 8:50 PM.” Remus tilted his head to the side. “Oh no it’s 8:50.”

They all looked at each other with a mix of panic and dread.

“He’s going to kill us!” Roman quietly shouted.

“Oh no, we haven’t been able to answer him cause we didn’t keep our phones on us this time! He’ll be so worried!” Patton looked to the others, “We should all get going.”

“Yes it’d be best to not incur his wrath.” Logan shook his head as he sighed.

“Uh, there’s no way his wrath has not already been incurred Logan.” Janus raised a brow at his friend, curious if Logan was hopeful or blissfully ignorant to their friends ire.

“He’s going to kill us, dismember us, then sell us as meat pies in his shop.” Remus quickly pulled his gloves back on.

“I doubt he will take it that far, though we should head out post haste.” Logan said as he started to float off the ground.

“No fair you’re going to use your powers?!” Roman pouted.

“Well I can not take you all with me, we can not be seen leaving in the same direction.” Logan responded.

“No, no.. He has a point.” Janus smiled at Roman before jumping down the firescape and disappearing from his friend’s view.

“What do you want to bet that he’ll be the first there but will hide out till after someone else gets there so he doesn’t have to get yelled at?” Roman looked to the three remaining friends.

“Yep.” Patton waved before jumping to a different roof and running off.

“Most certainly.” Logan flew away.

“I’ll be doing the same.” Remus smirked as he jumped to a different roof.

Roman stood there for a moment before flipping off the retreating shape that was his brother and opening the stairwell door - walking down the many, many flights of stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This version of the story has no cussing, I am aware that some people dislike cussing so I made this version without cussing. There will also be violence in some of the chapters and I will be putting a warning in the beginning of that chapter then a summary of the events of said chapter in the end notes.
> 
> In the end notes I have two questions for you all, if you'd like to answer it it'd be much appreciated.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy the story. <3

Patton slid into the window as he saw his big brother pacing the living room.

“Hey Virge…” He giggled softly as Virgil whipped his head in Patton’s direction.

“Where have you been?! Where are the others? What happened? Are you hurt?!” Virgil came storming over and looked the smaller man over.

“No no, everything is fine. We just had a run in with Destroyer.. After informing the cops of the people Destroyer killed we all met up in an old abandoned factory where he showed up again and attacked us. After we got away we got a bit side tracked, we're all fine though.” Patton explained.

“It was simply awful.” Roman said as he walked in from the screened in back porch, he was already in his normal clothes, carrying a bag on his back.

“He what- did he just let you all go without doing any real damage? Wait did you all catch him?” Virgil walked to Roman and gave him a once over.

“You don’t have to give us the once over Virgil.” Logan said as he and Remus came up from the basement.

“Hey Virgin, sorry for worryin’ ya.” Remus said as he smirked at Virgil.

“Please do not anger him. You were literally the one thinking he might kill us and now you’re teasing him.” Janus said as he came from the upstairs.

“Speaking of which.” Virgil smiled softly to his friends before pointing to the living room. “Sit. Now.”

They all flinched before going and sitting down, looking at each other silently as they prepared themselves for the scolding that was about to start.

Once they were all seated Virgil came over and stood in front of them. "You all are obviously not hurt, which is good. However- you all fought Destroyer, and by none of you saying you caught him, I’m guessing you didn’t. You all had two run-ins with this psycho in one day! Over all this is like, what the tenth time you three have ran into him this month!?”

“Yes that is exactly how many times Patton, Roman, and I ran into him overall this month.” Logan said.

Virgil’s eye twitched for a moment before he relaxed, “You all need to take a break, especially Janus and Remus. You two aren’t heroes and he kills more vigilantes and villains than he does heroes.”

“Fine. We can take off.” Janus held his hands up.

“Wait. You might be able to but-” Remus started to object but stopped when he saw how Virgil looked at him questioningly.

“And you three?” Virgil looked to his brother and two friends.

“Eh… No can do emo..” Roman murmured.

“Roman is right, although Janus and Remus can stop their escapades we can not.” Logan tried to level with Virgil.

“Sorry kiddo… We can stay together to try and minimize the likelihood of him trying to come after us.” Patton smiled.

Virgil thought for a moment before nodding. “Okay fine.”

“Really?” Remus sat up straight as he smiled, “You won’t yell at us more?”

“For one: you all are grown men, for two: You all aren’t hurt, for three: You two are going to be taking off and the other three will be staying together. Right?” Virgil turned to Logan, Roman, and Patton.

“Seems reasonable.” Logan said.

“I’m down for that.” Roman shrugged.

Patton just smiled and nodded as he got up, went around the coffee table and hugged his elder brother. Virgil hugged him back as he smiled softly. A moment later Remus and Roman had tackled them into a group hug. Virgil wasn’t sure how he was stuck in the middle but he just smiled down at the three.

“You two going to get in this?” Virgil asked with a smile still plastered on his face.

Janus and Logan looked at each other for a moment.

“I’m fine. Thanks.” Logan smiled softly.

“Same.” Janus responded.

“Nope! You two are getting in on this!” Remus turned from the hug and launched himself over the coffee table at them. He landed on them with a thud causing the two under him to let out groans.

Roman walked over and piled on top of them. “Might as well.”

“Oh - you two if Janus and Logan are being fuddy duddies let them, you shouldn’t force a hug on them. They’ll get grumpy.” Patton let go of his older brother as he placed his hands on his hips.

“Yes dad!” the twins said in unison as they climbed off of the others.

“Thank you Patton.” Logan said as he got up off of the couch.

“What’d you make for dinner Virgil?” Janus asked as he got comfortable.

“I made pizza. I was going to wait and actually make them with you all, but I got worried so I ended up distracting myself with cooking... And then cleaning.” Virgil shrugged. “They’re everyone’s favorites too..”

Roman ran into the kitchen before poking his head back out, “Wow, you made six different pizzas?!”

“I… I was very worried.” Virgil mumbled as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“I think Patton’s affliction of stress cooking and cleaning is starting to wear off on you.” Logan chuckled.

“Probably. Eat up guys. I’m going to go ahead and go to bed. You all probably shouldn’t stay up too late, I can’t imagine how tired you all must be.” Virgil yawned.

“You wouldn’t be so tired if you didn’t literally clean the whole first floor, make dinner and then clean the dishes.” Roman said as he raised a brow, leaning on the doorway to the kitchen as he did.

“Yes, you also went into work earlier this morning.” Patton gave his brother a disapproving frown.

“Jeez guys I’m fine. You all also went to work and then went out to kick butt. If you all are fine to do that then I can do more around the house.” Virgil rolled his eyes as he smiled. He looked over his friends - his family, with a fond smile as he went up the stairs.

“That was a fair point.” Janus said as he got himself some pizza.

“Indeed it was.” Logan looked over the pizzas, “he made mine a deep dish..”

“Yeah he put fish on mine too!” Remus said before biting into the pizza. After taking a moment to chew some he cackled, “and onions, olives, bacoon, pineapple, ham, chicken, silami, and pepperoni!”

“You’re disgusting.” Roman sided eyed his brother as he spoke.

“Oh let him have his… Interesting taste!” Patton giggled.

They all sat down at the kitchen table with their food. All sitting quietly as they ate and thought over the day, but mostly the fight. Destroyer was able to kill a villain they were fighting before the five noticed he was there. The man then easily held them off defensively as he picked the other two off.

“Why didn’t he try to kill me?” Remus mumbled through bites of pizza.

“Remus!” Patton looked over mortified.

“No, I mean it. He has killed every villain he’s come into contact with. Even ones that used to be heroes.” Remus looked around the table.

“He’s killed almost every vigilante he’s come across as well. He kills more villains and vigilantes than he does heroes so it explains why he didn't kill you all..” Janus sighed.

“But why did he leave you two? Remus was fighting us, and Janus was fighting everyone. Could he tell we were holding back against each other?” Roman mused.

“Possible. You two had never actually seen him before tonight have you?” Logan asked.

“No not in person.” Janus said as Remus shook his head.

“Maybe when he saw us all turn on him, whereas the other two villains were trying to attack everyone, he figured out we were working together? Since Betrayer... Since Remus was apart of our group before he "betrayed" us Destroyer may have figured the truth.” Patton said.

“Then that could be even more dangerous. He could spread that information around.” Roman frowned as he looked to his twin.

“I’d say that’s unlikely because he’d have to talk to people without killing them. I do think we should act as if he doesn't have that knowledge though.” Logan reasoned.

“Do you think he’s working with the organization?” Janus asked Remus.

“No, they hate him. All of us have orders to kill on sight. Well all of the S ranks.” Remus rubbed his mustache.

“Wait- S ranks!?” Patton said astonished. “They never send out S ranks to pick off their enemies. They leave that to B and below, unless that’s changed?”

“He’s killed more A ranks than days in January.” Remus shook his head.

“We don’t have an actual amount of villains he’s killed.” Logan said, leaning forward in his chair.

“He’s.. Destroyer has killed fifty villains, of all different ranks, even S.” Remus said as he bit the inside of his check.

“He’s killed about fourteen vigilantes.. Which isn’t nearly as bad, except when you stop to think about that being half the number of active vigilante’s in the whole city.” Janus frowned.

“He’s killed ten heroes, seven government works, and twenty-nine citizens..” Patton frowned as he looked down at his pizza, losing his appetite.

“He’s killed one hundred and ten people..” Logan mumbled, mostly to himself.

“That’s more than some S ranked villains have..” Remus rubbed his face.

“We have to stop him.” Roman said as he stood up and slammed his fist onto the table.

“No duh.” Janus rolled his eyes.

“No, we have to seek him out and stop him!” Roman glared at Janus.

“That is very unsafe with us not knowing more about him. We don’t even know his powers, and yes, we have guesses - but that’s all they are.” Logan reasoned.

“Then we try to figure out his powers. Not just that, why he’s targeting who he’s targeting. There has to be a reason and if we figure that out then we can figure out his movements, right?” Patton looked between his friends for confirmation.

“Yeah. That’s right Patton. Though it’ll be difficult since Remus and I promised to take a step back..” Janus agreed with Patton.

They all sat there for a moment and thought. Remus picking at his pizza as he spoke, “No. If we take them down we have to do it together. You and I will just have to be subtle about it.”

“You subtle? I doubt that’s possible.” Roman raised an eyebrow at his brother, the man stuck out like a sore thumb even in their odd ragtag group.

“I’ll go out tomorrow, I'm able to stick to the shadows better than any of you and I can get information that you all can’t manage, and maybe- possibly even trail him.” Janus said as he got up. “I have tomorrow off so I’ll see what I can find out. I’m going to go get cleaned up and head to bed.”

Janus picked up his food before walking into the kitchen, listening to the murmurs of his friends as he retreated. He packed his pizza away along with his friends, leaving theirs out so they could get more if they pleased. He stood in the kitchen for a moment and thought over the night once again.

What he and the others were about to start doing was dangerous, but was it truly anymore dangerous than what they already did? Destroyer was strong, easily an A ranking- if not an S ranking villain. He didn’t work for the Organization, nor for the Heroes United, and the vigilante didn’t have some organized group. The government? He’s killed officials and higher ups in the government before, though that didn't mean anything. If he were to be working with a group it wasn’t one he was aware of. He didn’t even see a link between those he targeted, though maybe there was one deeper down. Did he work alone? Was this revenge? Janus didn’t know the answers to his questions, but he knew his friends were probably wondering the same things.

Janus walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs as he thought. Logan would be best for researching the connections between these people, with the government database at his fingertips and his Mind’s Control of Deduction he’d be the fastest to figure it out.

Janus walked into his room before walking into the jack and jill bathroom that he and Virgil shared. Pulling his clothes off and throwing them about Janus clambered into the deep but thin shower. At the time of renovating the house Janus and Virgil were much thinner and had not taken into account that working out would cause them to grow larger. Janus still felt the smaller shower was worth it for them to have a soaker tub even if it took up a good deal of the bathroom.

The water ran over his back as he looked down at his hands, he was a deceptive person. He knew how much of a liar he was - even his powers revolved around lying, but the thought of lying to Virgil made his heart sink. Virgil always knew about what they were planning, and he would caution them but be no less supportive. He was about to lie to Virgil about something that could get him killed. He wasn’t sure if they were going to tell Virgil at all about the plan to go after Destroyer. Janus could already imagine just how irate Virgil would be, yelling at them about leaving it to much more qualified heroes. Even if everyone was A rank or above it was clear Destroyer was stronger.

How did someone that strong exist and the government seemingly not know? That thought sent a chill through Janus’s skin the hot water couldn’t get rid of. The government had to know, unless he had been hidden from the government? Could it be possible he wasn’t even a real citizen? Destroyer had great control of his powers and a deep knowledge of how to use them. He had to train for most all of his life - if not all of it to be able to be so proficient with them. That means he must have the capability to train in a place that allows for different scenarios. Unless he hasn’t always been in the city?

Janus felt a headache start to grow as he tried to figure things out. Taking a moment to finish up his shower he opted to just relax for the rest of the night. He could talk with Logan during breakfast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I mentioned in the top notes of the last chapter that I'm keeping the chapters short so it's easier for people to read. In truth the first seven published chapters are going to in actuality be chapter one of the story. Right now, which I'm not done with the seventh chapter so do keep that in mind - there is 13,675 words, once I go over the seventh part and fix things in it I'm sure it'll be at least 15k words.
> 
> I'm trying to figure out if I want the first seven published chapters to be part one of the story, and I'm also trying to figure out how often to upload these chapters.
> 
> The first question is: Would you all prefer for the main story to all be one part, or for each real chapter to be put into different parts?
> 
> The second question is: should I update every two or three days?  
> (disclaimer) Do be aware that I might sometimes miss or take more time than the two or three days to actually update. I can be very very fickle and finicky in general but even more so with my writing. Also sometimes ya just don't have the mental capacity or willpower to do stuff ya' know?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This version of the story has no cussing, I am aware that some people dislike cussing so I made this version without cussing. There will also be violence in some of the chapters and I will be putting a warning in the beginning of that chapter then a summary of the events of said chapter in the end notes.

Logan sat in the dining area as he watched Virgil move about in the kitchen. By the time Logan had come down for breakfast Virgil had already gotten most of the way through cooking and had already prepared the coffee. 

Logan looked down at his cup silently as he contemplated. Waiting a moment before speaking, “Virgil. I have a question.” 

“Yes Logan?” Virgil looked back momentarily before going back to what he was doing in the kitchen.

“You figured we were going to try to go after Destroyer, haven’t you?” Logan asked softly, not wanting to wake their friend the floor above them. Janus had always been a light sleeper.

Virgil didn’t respond for sometime, working quietly in the kitchen. Logan simply waited, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Yeah. I don’t like it, but I know you all have to.. It’s the right thing to do. You all should wait until Remus and Janus are able to help you all though. I don’t mean to insult you or the others but you’ll need the full team if you want to stop him.” Virgil spoke even softer than Logan did, the worry and anxiety apparent in his voice.

Virgil brought three plates of food into the dining room, handing one to Logan before putting the others down on the table. Logan raised an eyebrow at the extra plate.

“Roman woke up thirty minutes ago, he should be down soon.” Virgil said as he sat. 

Logan smiled at the ever vigilant man before he looked down at the breakfast casserole. It had sausage, egg, bacoon, diced onions, bell peppers and a hash brown bottom. 

“It looks good.” Logan said.

“I’m glad you think so. The last time I made it Roman refused to eat it because the hash brown was mixed in with the other food.” Virgil rolled his eyes.

Logan laughed around his bite of food.

Logan swallowed before asking, “Why? It was just as crispy as it is now.”

“He said it looked ‘icky’. He was being overly dramatic.” Virgil stated as he started to eat.

“Hello my lovelies~” Roman cooed as he came down the stairs.

“Good morning Ro. Your food is over here, oh I forgot your smoothie in the fridge.” Virgil waved slightly.

“Oh you spoil me!” Roman got his smoothie before coming in and sitting down. “I saw you made Remus’s and Patton’s smoothies as well.” 

Logan gave Virgil a questioning look. 

“I was up and I had time.” Virgil mumbled.

“I don’t recall seeing your bedroom light go out at all during the night..” Logan noted as he took a sip of his coffee.

“You can’t even see my door from your doorway.” Virgil retorted. 

“I went to the study around twelve and came back to my room at three.” Logan countered.

“I could have been going to the bathroom, besides why were you up till three?” Virgil deflected.

“I fell asleep as I was reading up on a file. I woke up around three and headed back to my room to sleep comfortably in my bed.” Logan deadpanned.

“Well it’s good you didn’t stay up all night.” Virgil shrugged.

Roman had quietly been watching the two as he ate. Virgil had been continuing to eat seemingly unfazed by the exchange. Logan on the other hand had at first continued to eat but stopped once he had started to grow tired of Virgil’s game.

Roman found his chance to interject and did so, “Yes but you did stay up, didn’t you Virgil? It’s only five fifty, did you even sleep?”

Virgil was silent for a moment before he put his fork down, “No.. I was anxious. You all could get hurt. I’m not going to stop you all - I couldn’t even if I wanted to. But like, you all could get hurt or even killed. Destroyer is a monster. Even if he hasn’t hurt you all before that doesn’t mean he won’t.” 

Logan and Roman blinked at him, they knew he was anxious - but not to the point of losing a whole night’s sleep. The three of them sat there quietly for a few moments. Virgil looked passed the other two to the stairs taking notice of Remus.

“Well then, that’s a heavy thing to hear first thing in the morning.” Remus said as he walked into the kitchen.

Remus looked at the all too clean and orderly kitchen. He could smell the food that had been made but saw no dirty dishes. Virgil had done it once again, that cheeky brat never chills. After a moment he looked into the refrigerator spotting the food that was surely meant to be his. He took it before getting a fork and walking into the dinning room. He sat and opened the container before digging in, getting a disgusted look from Roman.

“Remus heat it up you animal!” Roman whined.

“Hm, nah.” Was all Remus mumbled as he woofed his food down.

“Glad you like it.” Virgil chuckled.

Remus stopped eating as he looked to Virgil, “I’ll work at the store today. You rest. And I mean it! Sleep. I’m sure Logan wouldn’t mind calling up Remy to make you sleep.” 

“Isn’t that a bit over the top?” Virgil tried to reason.

Logan without saying a word pulled out his phone and started to pull up Remy’s contact.

“Okay okay. I don’t need Doctor Sleep.” Virgil said, defeated.

“The movie or book?” Janus asked as he stepped into the dinning room.

“Your brother in law.” Logan said as he looked up. “Speaking of which, my brother wants to have dinner with the two of us.”

“Why?” Janus asked as he walked into the hallway and then kitchen.

“Because he’s trying to figure out what Emile is up to, and he wants to, quote on quote: hang out with us.” Logan responded. 

“How am I supposed to know what my brother is up to? Remy is married to the man, he should be able to figure it out.” Janus muttered as he took the tea kettle off the boiler. 

Janus stopped when he noticed his mug was already set out with his morning tea in it. He looked into the dinning room to see Virgil sipping at his coffee as he spaced out. A small smile tugged at the corners of Janus’s lips. Virgil was so sweet. He most likely was the one to prepare breakfast for them all. He was the only one who could cook well besides Patton. Janus got his food out of the fridge before putting it on a plate and sliding it into the microwave. He picked his mug up as he leaned on the counter separating the kitchen and dining room. 

“So Virgil is staying home today?” Janus smiled.

“Wait if you had heard that then-” Logan started but stopped with Janus’s snickering. 

“I was joking about Remy’s nickname.” Janus replied.

Janus got his food and drink before coming and joining the others sitting down between Remus and Virgil.

“To answer your question, yes. I’m staying home today on threats of being knocked out by the good doctor.” Virgil rolled his eyes as he spoke, though he had a soft smile on his face.

Janus hummed as he started to eat, smiling to himself at how cute his friend looked.

“Oh Janus you’re staying home too! Right?” Remus smiled over at his friend.

Janus stopped smiling as he gave Remus a slide glare. Virgil had turned his attention just in time to miss Romans facepalm and the shake of Logan’s head.

“Oh, is everything okay Janus?” Virgil asked as he tilted his head to the side.

“Yeah, everythings fine, I just wanted today off instead of this coming Monday... I was actually planning on going out later in the day and, uh, yeah..” Janus silently scolded himself for lying to Virgil, even if he had to.

“Oh, where are you going?” Virgil relaxed before smiling.

“...A date.” Janus said without thinking.

Remus choked on his smoothie causing Roman to roughly pat his back. After a moment Remus held a thumbs up. Virgil looked between the three and then to Logan, giving them a weird look. 

“I hope you have fun on your date. I’m going to head to bed, well first I’m going to wake my brother up.” Virgil smiled at his friends, “Roman, Logan, you all done with your food?” 

“Yep.” Roman smiled, holding onto his smoothie.

“Yes.” Logan took a sip of his coffee.

Virgil nodded before taking their plates and his into the kitchen, he cleaned them off before washing them. The four in the dining room stayed quiet the whole time. Remus sipped on his smoothie and stared at Janus - who inreturn stayed looking down at his food as he ate. Virgil looked into the dining room as he passed and rolled his eyes.

Once Virgil had gone up the stairs and they couldn’t hear his footsteps they all let out a sigh.

“For someone who is supposed to be good at lying you suck at it.” Remus let out a laugh.

“It’s completely viable that Janus had a date, I don’t see what was wrong with it besides how he said it.” Logan said.

“Does he seriously not know?” Roman looked to Janus.

“Everyone but Virgil knows.” Janus facepalmed.

“Oh. OH.” Was all Logan could manage. 

Remus tried not to laugh at Logan, instead looking towards the hallway. He hummed for a moment before speaking up, “When Janus was a kid he made a point to never lie to Virgil, even if it would have been easier in the past.”

“I wasn’t aware of that.” Roman said, gobsmacked.

“Don’t be so shocked.” Janus growled out.

“No Janus - Roman has good reason to be surprised. It’s very hard to not lie to someone in some way or another. For you to strive, and from Remus’s impression to actually not lie to Virgil for twenty one years.. That is very impressive.” Logan reasoned.

“Well it’s not like I’ve never told him something that was untrue. I just didn’t know it was false at that time.” Janus rubbed the back of his neck.

“I wouldn’t really call that lying kiddo.” Patton said from the kitchen, causing the four to jump.

“It seems Virgil isn’t the only one picking up traits from their sibling.” Roman murmured as he held his chest.

“Oh sorry to scare you all!” Patton giggled as he came in with his cold food and smoothie. 

“Oh god not you two Patton!” Roman gasped. “The betrayal!” he said as he put one hand over his heart and the other over his head as he leaned back.

Patton giggled more as he sat next to Logan and Roman. “Some foods are fine to eat cold. Anywho what were you all talking about? I figure you all were talking about Janus liking Virgil.” Patton smiled widely as he looked to Janus.

“Yes. And how I’m lying to him because I’m going out later.” Janus sighed.

“Oh did you tell him you’re going out?” Patton asked.

Janus flinched at the words ‘going out’ and looked down. Patton looked confused between the other three. Remus was blankly chewing on his cup, as he listened. Roman was looking at Patton and then to Logan. Logan nodded before sighing.

“Virgil will be staying home today since he stayed up all night.. It was brought up that Janus is also staying home. Janus then brought up how he’d be leaving in the later parts of the day. Virgil asked if he was going anywhere in particular and without knowing what to actually say Janus said… On a date.” Logan took his glasses off to rub some sleep out of his eyes as he spoke.

“Oh… Aww, noooo.” Patton pouted as he looked at Janus. “Well at least you can always say the date didn’t go well?”

“And in a way you weren’t lying.” Roman mused.

“How was I not…?” Janus started but was much too confused to continue on with his question.

“Well… You have a date with destiny. To go and put a stop to evil doers and to find the truth about Destroyer!” Roman whisper-shouted the last sentence.

Logan and Janus both gave roman a skeptic look while Remus nodded with the cup hanging out of his mouth. 

“Awww Roman that is such a sweet way to look at it!” Patton jumped up and down in his chair.

“No, that’s silly Roman. Besides, bending the truth is still a lie.” Logan stated, causing everyone to give him a look. 

“Well anyways, I was thinking; Destroyer is strong, but above that he has a level of control with his powers that is impossible to have without training. If a criminal were to have powers like that it’d be in the database. Or, possibly, he wasn’t always a criminal…” Janus changed the subject as he finished his tea.

“I was actually thinking the same. Well mostly the same, anyways. I looked over the files of every known criminal in the city in the past thirty years. He seems young, perhaps around our age, but he could be older. I also found no one with manipulating powers relating to perception or powers.” Logan explained.

“So he is either a criminal from a smaller community - different city, different state, or possibly a different country, or maybe even a hero turned villain from a different community. He could have possibly been a villagante as well. It honestly might be faster to just look at everyone with powers and narrow it down that way.” Roman said sardonically. 

“Right, that’s what I’m planning on doing. Well I actually planned on doing a search of the whole database once I had a bit more information.” Logan said as he got up. “I do believe it’s time for all of us to go to work. Janus if you go out before Roman, Patton, and I are patrolling, be extremely careful.” 

“I was planning on it hoss.” Janus said as he got up and stretched.

“What will you be doing till you go out?” Patton asked.

Janus thought for a moment before speaking, “I’ll clean the plates and crap Virgil didn’t, possibly make lunch though we do still have the pizza from last night… I’ll just chill around here for a bit - relax, and then go out.”

“Sounds fun... Virgil sent me a message of what needs to be done at The MarketPlace. So once I close the store up for him at eight I’ll be coming back here and I’ll figure out what to do with Virgil I guess.” Remus shrugged.

“That’s good. Thankfully I only work a half day today so once Betty switches off with me I’ll be coming back. Would any of you like for me to bring home sweets from the cafe? Also what will you be doing Roman?” Patton asked.

“We actually finished the latest episode two days ago so we’re script reading for the next one today. Also sweets are always appreciated. I should be able to get done around one.” Roman responded.

“I won’t be getting off work till four. We might actually be done patrolling by the time you get back Remus.” Logan stated as he looked to Remus who puffed his cheeks out.

“Right well I should head out! Bye guys, be safe and have a good day!” Patton said as he took his stuff to the kitchen before running out the front door.

Roman chuckled, “for a moment I thought he wasn’t wearing shoes..”

Janus watched as each of his friends left, Logan and Remus, and then Roman lastly. He sat in the dinning room for a time, simply allowing his mind to wonder before getting up and cleaning the few dishes.


	4. Not a chapter - please read still

Hello everyone, it's me - ya boi. 

I'm really sorry to say that I have to take a short break. Nothing too long, but I'm sick right now and only awake one or two hours out of the day/night. I've been sick with Acute Mononucleosis for a while. I have been getting better, but every now and again I end up staying up for almost 24 hours (sometimes longer) because of anxiety attacks. Those nights/days cause my sleep schedule to become completely wrecked and I end up not sleeping much for the week or so after that until I completely crash. I think I also have a cold right now so I'm even weaker than normal which is making me even more tired.

I already have three, maybe four parts of Who They Are written out, but I'm going over and editing them to my liking. I'm super anxious about putting stuff out into the world and unless I think it's as good as I'm capable of doing I won't put it out. 

I don't want to leave you all with nothing for this chapter so I'll give you all some little details about the gang that aren't relevant or may clear up some confusions!

First, their age.   
Emile is 44  
Remy is 43  
Logan is 34  
Janus is 33  
Virgil is 32  
Remus is 31  
Roman is 31 (They're twins, though Remus is the older twin by like ten minutes.)  
Patton is 30

I wanted the main six (Logan, Janus, Virgil, Remus, Roman, and Patton) to be around the same age since they grew up together. Emile and Remy are older but like the others they've grown up together and ended staying together, though unlike the others who stay together because they're friends, it's because Emile and Remy are married.

Family  
Well there is the obvious - Remus and Roman are twins. Then like I've mentioned in the chapters Patton and Virgil are brothers, however I believe I have yet to mention that they are adoptive brothers - Virgil was adopted by Patton's parents at age 11. Logan is Remy's younger brother, and Emile is Janus's older brother.

The house  
So they all live together, even Emile and Remy though they've yet to be seen in the story. 

The house was originally a row house which is a house type normally found in the larger cities around Europe and America. Think 221b bakers street in the Sherlock BBC show (Or the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock films, those are also row houses), and the house from full house. Row houses can be anywhere from two to five stories and the one the group lives in is five floors (counting the basement.) The basement is where they have their hero base. The first floor is where the living areas are: kitchen, dining room, formal sitting room, family room, half bath, and a library/shared office. On the second floor there are two bathroom along with the first three bedrooms belonging to: Logan, Virgil, and Janus. The third floor also has two bathrooms and the bedrooms belonging to Roman, Remus, and Patton. The top floor/attic is shared by the married couple Remy and Emile. Unlike most row houses there isn't a house next to either side of the house because they burned down before the group moved in. Which is actually how they were able to afford the house, it had heavy fire damage and was rundown, it took them two years to fix the house to what it's like now and they decided to buy the plots of land on either side of them for more privacy. 

Welp that's that for now! Incase I feel sick again I'll keep some details locked away! I hope you all enjoyed this little info dump and I hope you all enjoy the story. It means so much to me to see people reading it and leaving kudos so I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I is back!
> 
> If I miss any curse words please tell me in the comments and the part where it is so I can fix it!

By lunchtime Virgil came down to find Janus asleep, sprawled out on the couch in the formal sitting room. The fire was lit in the fireplace and there were stacks of folders and books on the coffee table.

Virgil leaned over the back of the couch and poked the sleeping man causing him to jolt awake. Janus quickly sat up as he was pulled from his sleep, not realizing Virgil was leaning over him until their heads connected, both of the men fell back as they groaned in pain.

“Ow.” Virgil murmured as he stepped around the couch, rubbing his forehead whilst he climbed between his friends legs and sat.

Janus glared at him softly, “You could of woken me up better than with your cold hands. Evil man.”

Janus watched as Virgil shrugged, electing to pick up a file and look over it. Janus moved his legs from around his friend as he sat up. He leaned over and looked at the file.

“You’re looking at power theory?” Virgil mumbled as he looked through the documents in the file.

“Yeah. We don’t know what powers Destroyer has. We have a vague theory but nothing concrete.” Janus spoke as he picked up a different file and skimmed through the documents within it.

“What’s the theory?” Virgil asked as he looked up.

“Well we have one of the two powers figured out. He can suppress powers. Last night Patton wasn’t able to heal the two villains that Destroyer didn’t kill out right. The other power, we think, is perception manipulation..” Janus shrugged.

“No, he’s straight up burned people alive, perception alone can’t do that. Even spontaneous human combustion wouldn’t explain that. Isn’t it more likely that he has manipulation of powers? So, if one power can suppress, then the other might be that he can take other people’s power for a time.” Virgil mumbled before pausing.

Janus quietly sat there, shocked that Logan nor himself thought of that.

“He’d have to be strong to take control of element powers and perception powers. If he hasn’t shown any other powers I’d say he can only copy two powers. Which is still amazing, he’d have to be an S rank for sure. Oh and what about the reverse?” Virgil tilted his head as he spoke.

“The reverse?” Janus mumbled, the sleepy haze still on his mind.

“Yeah, every one power can be used in different ways. Take Patton’s Healing of The Soul, he can make people feel both positive and negative emotions, but adversely he can take away emotions. So, in theory since he can suppress powers he can also make them stronger. For the power in which he takes powers maybe he could give them? That’d be tricky though, because that other person would have to be able to maintain that power.” Virgil pondered.

“That brings up a point, how does he maintain using those powers, that’d be using at least two powers at once?” Janus thought for a minute before jumping up off the couch. “He can only use two powers at once!”

“How do you know? Everyone else can only use two powers at once, but if one of his powers gives him different powers, then wouldn’t he be able to use more?” Virgil got up as well, placing the folder on the coffee table again.

“Well, he has never made it to where we can’t see him when we’re fighting, he has always used his element power, which means he was also using the control power. Then there was the time in which he pulled Patton back away from the two villains that he had just gravely wounded, when he was touching Patton he wasn’t using any of his powers - he went strictly to hand and hand combat. Then when he disappears right in front of our eyes he’d be using the perception and control.” Janus explained.

“So just like everyone else he can only use two powers at once. Then with his control power he can use different powers, but he can only use one other power at a time even if he has another one besides his own that he is capable of using. That also means that he can hold onto more than one power even if he doesn’t use it. He’s only ever used perception manipulation and elemental powers, meaning he can most likely only hold onto two other powers at a time.” Virgil summarized.

“Yes, and there’s never been reports of people not able to use their powers, which means he just copies them without stealing them.” Janus reasoned as he walked into the dinning room to then head into the hallway.

“Wait, so besides Patton he hasn’t used that suppression power?” Virgil followed Janus while he asked.

“Yeah, all of his victims have fought back with their powers. Besides yesterday he’s never straight up assassinated someone or killed them without a fight, that I know of.” Janus elaborated.

“Huh.” Virgil said as they stood in the hallway.

“Want to have lunch?” Janus asked.

“Yeah.” Virgil said.

They both walked into the kitchen and Virgil opened the fridge, looking in.

“We have left over pizza and breakfast casserole.” Virgil said as he looked back.

“Would you prefer to save those for dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast?” Janus asked.

“I think Remus was wanting to make curry. It’s his night for dinner and he had been talking to me about what kind of curry would be best for this weather.” Virgil said.

“Pizza it is then. I wonder what kind of curry he’ll make.” Janus pondered.

“Last time he said anything about it he mentioned a few different types.” Virgil chuckled.

“Wait, you don’t think he’ll mitchmatch?” Janus asked, horrified.

“I think he’ll make them correctly and then miss match them as he’s eating. Last I checked he wanted to do some seafood, chicken, and beef ones.” Virgil said as he handed Janus his tub of pizza.

“Knowing him we won’t need to cook dinner for a few days. If it turns out right.” Janus joked.

“Very true.” Virgil mumbled.

Janus got down two plates and handed one to Virgil. Virgil smiled and put two slices on his plate.

“Casserole for breakfast, pizza for lunch, and curry for dinner. Sounds like a good week to me.” Janus said as he smiled.

“Yeah. What would you like to drink?” Virgil asked.

“I’ll probably have a soda since we’re having pizza. Want one?” Janus asked as he turned back to the refrigerator.

“Coke please.” Virgil mumbled through his bites.

When Janus turned to hand Virgil his drink he saw the man sitting on the counter. Virgil was staring out the front window to his side as he ate, he looked peaceful and happy. Janus couldn’t help but wonder if he was the one that was making Virgil happy.

“Here.” Janus held out the drink.

“Thanks gov’ner.” Virgil said as he took it, smiling at Janus as he did.

Janus chuckled before sitting on the counter close to the sink, watching his friend as he started to eat.

Virgil looked towards the other thinking for a moment before taking a sip of his drink. “I hope you have fun on your date, when will you be heading out?” Virgil didn’t make eye contact as he asked.

“I was actually going to head out in an hour or two, we were going to walk around the city. I wanted to head to the park before the date though.” Janus said, another lie.

“Nice, want to watch a show or something till you gotta get ready?” Virgil hummed his question.

“That’d be nice.” Janus smiled.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: There is light violence/fighting in this chapter.
> 
> Instead of having a whole summary for this chapter, since the fighting is extremely short and no talking actually happens during the fight proper, I will be noting in the chapter where the fighting beginnings and where it ends. Also during part of the chapter Destroyer gets kneed in the face by Patton.
> 
> Fight summary: At the beginning of the fight Janus gets taken by surprise and pinned to a wall, at the end of the fight he is pinned to the floor. I say this because it may be confusing if I do not.
> 
> If I missed any curse words please tell me in the comments below.

Janus sat on the roof of a building, looking down below at the people. He had been looking for information on Destroyer for two hours and decided to take a break. He knew Patton was getting off from work around this time so he’d at least have someone to talk to soon.

“You really should be more careful of your surroundings, Illusionist.” A voice growled from behind him.

Janus whipped his head back to find The Destroyer standing in the shadows. He quickly got up and realized he was on the edge of the building, it’d be so easy for the man to push him off.

Janus didn’t say a thing as he moved away from the edge, watching the man.

Destroyer watched Janus back, looking him up and down. “You are never out at this time of day..” Destroyer mumbled.

Janus stopped walking as he felt his heart beat falter - The Destroyer was aware of his habits. “And?”

“Hmm…” Destroyer's hum sent chills down Janus’s spine, the man’s voice was deep and soft. “Just an assessment I made.” Destroyer finally responded.

“What are you going to do? Kill me like all the others?” Janus took a step back.

“Perhaps..” Destroyer said as he took a step forward.

(FIGHT BEGINNINGS)

Janus took another step back and bumped into something, looking back he saw none other than Destroyer. He tried to jump back but the man grabbed him by the throat and pushed him into the wall. How had he gotten there? Was the other an illusion?

Destroyer started to bring his other hand up to Janus’s face, but Janus knocked it away before bringing his knee up right into Destroyers gut.

Destroyer coughed as he took a step back, letting go of Janus’s throat. He wasn’t truly fighting, did he think Janus was weak?

Janus went to punch Destroyer in the face while he had the chance, but Destroyer easily moved out of the way before punching Janus in the stomach and then hitting him square in between his shoulders.

Janus fell and rolled away before jumping up and putting his fist out in front of him, ready to fight.

Destroyer growled and lunged forward when he was just out of Janus’s reach he stopped and jumped to Janus’s left. He quickly dropped low, swiping Janus’s leg out from underneath him.

Before Janus could even register what had happened he was on his back with the air knocked out of him and Destroyer on top of him. Destroyer had one knee on Janus’s chest and the other behind him, keeping Janus’s legs down.

(FIGHT ENDS)

He held onto both of Janus's arms and forcefully pushed them up above his head, once both of Janus’s wrists were in one of Destroyers hands he brought his hand down to Janus’s mask.

Janus jerked his head away, “If you’re going to kill me then just do it.” He growled out.

Destroyer growled back, “Didn’t know you were so eager for death, Illusionist. Do your friends know that?”

Janus froze and his eyes went wide, “What will you do with them?”

“The same I’m going to do with you. Nothing.” Destroyer responded quietly.

“What?” Janus whispered, barely speaking at all.

Destroyer didn’t have a chance to respond because he swiftly got a knee to his face. He fell back off of Janus before quickly rolling away and getting to his feet.

Janus looked from Destroyer to the person who possibly saved him. Patton.

“Are you okay Illusionist?” Patton asked as he watched Destroyer.

“Yes, Heart, Thank you.” Janus said as he got up.

“Hm, so it’s true. I had thought from your reaction when I said friends, but now I know.” Destroyer stood there, he didn’t even seem like he was ready to fight, he never did.

“Shut up.” Patton hissed.

Janus looked at Patton again, the younger man was pissed.

“Heart wait a moment we were talking…” Janus said as he held an arm up in front of Patton.

“Indeed Heart, we were. Didn’t your parents ever tell you not to interrupt people? Or perhaps an older sibling?” Destroyer teased.

Janus glared at him, “What do you know about us?”

“More than The Hero’s United and the Organization combined. I’ve had an interest in you all.” Destroyer smiled as he watched the two. Heart was looking like he was ready to beat him senseless whereas Illusionist looked conflicted.

“Why?” Janus bit his tongue before continuing, “What could you gain from so much supposive information besides using it to kill us?”

“Don’t get a big head Illusionist. I know a lot about a lot of people. Some of those people I plan on killing, yes - but some I have no plans for.” The Destroyer folded his arms as he talked.

“Then why have information on them?” Patton spoke up finally.

“Because some people need to be watched over. I would have thought you all would understand that more than anyone.” Destroyer says flatly.

“So you protect some, but what - those you dislike you just straight up kill?” Patton was seething as he spoke, “who are you to decide that!?”

“Heart calm down…” Janus turned slightly to look at patton.

Patton looked over and went to object when they both heard the scuff of Destroyers boots, when they looked back the man was gone.

"Dang it.” Patton said before looking to Janus.

“It’s fine Ppp-fff…” He acted like he was letting out a long sigh before continuing, “I was scared senseless, but he didn’t really hurt me before you showed up.”

“Why?” Patton questioned, some of the tension leaving him.

“I’m not sure yet... Did he really just want to talk to me? We need to talk to the others.” Janus muttered.

“I’ll tell them to hurry.” Patton said as he started to pull out his phone.

“No, they don’t have to leave work, though I think since we need to talk we should meet up at home and not go out later tonight.” Janus rubbed his neck as he rolled his shoulders.

“Right let’s go. Should you use your lies of sight to stop anyone from following us?” Patton was asking, but it sounded like a statement.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Janus murmured.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This version of the story has no cussing, I am aware that some people dislike cussing so I made this version without cussing. There will also be violence in some of the chapters and I will be putting a warning in the beginning of that chapter then a summary of the events of said chapter in the end notes. If you notice I missed any cuss words please comment and let me know so I can edit it!
> 
> I'm keeping the chapters short so it's easier to read, I hope you all enjoy the story.
> 
> Hi all!
> 
> I'd like to apologize for not uploading for such a long time right. Like, I had a long stretch in which I didn't update then I updated once and then I didn't update again for fourteen days. I literally didn't upload for a fortnight (A fortnight is 14 days). It's been crazy these past fourteen days though, partly bad, partly just overwhelming, and all in all it's just been extremely tiring. As an apology I'm going to be uploading two chapters back to back!
> 
> I'd also like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for reading, leave kudos/comments and overall taking the time to read this. I know it's not the best in either it's writing or it's story, but I am working hard on it, and it is the first story I've published so of course it won't be amazing or anything. I'm still extremely proud of it and you all reading it just makes me want to keep going, ya know? Anyways please enjoy the story!

Virgil sat in the bath as he held his hand out in front of him. He stared at the slightly chipped black nails. He felt a tight hot aching emptiness in his chest. Virgil knew that feeling: numbness. It had been his companion for his whole life before he met Patton and the others.

The feeling was worse today. He knew that Janus had lied to him, the reaction from the others and the regret he had on his face was all the proof he needed. Janus was surely out there doing god knows what as The Illusionist. He’d be alone for about an hour and thirty minutes till Patton and him met up. It had already been thirty minutes since he left. Thirty minutes for Janus to get in trouble, thirty minutes for Janus to be taken out.

Virgil growled before pushing himself under the water and sitting there. Finally after a minute he resurfaced and got out of the tub to take a shower. He let the water run over him and he spaced out and washed himself up. Once he got out he went to his room and threw on a MCR shirt, his hoodie, and black sweatpants and headed downstairs.

He started his music up over the speakers as he went into the lounge, looking at the files they had left on the coffee table. He sat and picked a few up, “I wonder what the right thing to do is… Letting it be isn’t it.”

“They want to know the reasons why Destroyer is doing what he’s doing, but would that change things? Would that excuse him? Killing what appears to be innocent people, well some innocent people. Then that brings up the question; is taking a life ever okay? If more were at risk of dying is it better to kill the lesser amount? If that answer is yes then Destroyer might have an out, or at least a simpler time at being redeemed. That’s if his reasons are noble or just.” Virgil said as he laid on his side.

“They’ll most likely find out who he is. They’re all far too smart not to if they work together. I’m sure Janus or Logan, maybe even Remus will figure out his powers the more they deal with him. Logan also could just use his Mind’s Control of Duction when they catch Destroyer off guard. They’d be able to get a good bit of information if not everything about him if they do that.” Virgil got up and started to busy himself.

It was sometime before he sat back down, rubbing his face as he did so. While he was up and about he had managed to hurt himself due to him not paying attention. Virgil felt extremely annoyed that his worries for his friends had made him not pay attention to his surroundings.

He was much more alert now and he quickly took note of two sets of footsteps coming up the basement stairs. He quickly got up and ran to the basement door before opening it. There stood his brother and Janus still in their costumes.

“Did anything bad happen?” Virgil asked as the other two jumped.

“You startled us Virgil, we could have fallen down the stairs or punched you in the face.” Janus mumbled.

Virgil rolled his eyes as he walked into the family room, expecting the others to follow him. Which they did, sharing a look as they followed the anxious man.

“So… How has your day been?” Patton offered.

“It was fine. Now, what happened? You all wouldn’t be back here unless something happened.” Virgil growled out the last bit as he sat in one of the chairs.

Janus waited a moment, looking at Virgil before sitting on the couch cushion closet to him. Patton sitting on the other side of him.

“I ran into the Destroyer, we fought, well I fought him. He- it felt like he was just going through the motions of it, though he kept trying to corner me. Eventually he got me on the ground and he was able to keep me there. Then he started to say something.. He made it seem as though he was going to do something to me, but then he didn’t? He even stated he wasn’t going to do anything to any of us... Also he made it known that he knew a good deal about us.” Janus said, he finally took off the mask covering his face.

“We didn’t find out more cause he ran off when we looked away.” Patton said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Virgil sat there and thought for a moment, “Do you believe him?”

Janus blinked before looking to Patton who shrugged. He thought for a moment, “He has had the opportunity to kill me three times: two times yesterday, then once today. He could have had more opportunities without me knowing. Yesterday he actually fought us, but he didn’t hurt us besides when he was defending himself. If he wanted us dead, he wouldn’t have any issues. I believe that he has no current intent to kill us, yes.”

“You don’t trust him, right?” Virgil asked.

“No. There is no way to trust someone who’s killed one hundred and ten people - that we know of.” Patton spoke up and Janus nodded in agreement.

“He’s protected people right? Random citizens I mean.” Virgil mumbled.

“Yes, even a young sidekick when her hero was fighting an S rank.” Janus spoke up.

“Then he’s only targeting some people. He most certainly has an agenda.” Virgil stated.

“What agenda would possibly involve killing people of every affiliation?” Patton wondered out loud.

“If he’s gone out of the way to protect people, then I’d say he’s going after baddies.” Virgil offered.

“Are you suggesting that all of the people he’s killed have been crooked in some way or another?” Janus sat forward.

“It’s possible.” Virgil shrugged.

“No! He’s killed heroes, officers, doctors, and politicians!” Patton objected.

“Patton just because they act like they’re good people doesn’t mean they are. Take Remus for example, he’s not a villain yet he’s acting as one.” Virgil reasoned.

“Yeah, but - but Remus is only acting.” Patton was getting more and more upset.

“Patton, that’s Virgil’s point. Though why not leave evidence of these peoples wrong doings?” Janus looked to Virgil.

Virgil thought for a moment as they both looked at him. “I… I don’t know. Everything I had said could be wrong, I was just trying to reason. I mean honestly unless he tells you there is no way of you all knowing.”

“Even then he could easily lie to us. We will look into it.” Janus said.

“No!” Virgil quickly stood up.

“Why not Virge?” Patton asked.

“If you look into it he could change his mind. OR there is something that’s going on and you all could get caught up in it. It’d be better to just focus on stopping him.” Virgil said as he hugged himself.

“That is true. Though if something is going on then we should help him.” Janus leveled.

“No, he’s been having an easy enough time of taking care of the problem. If you all stop him and he tells you about what's going on and you all decide he’s in the right then just leave him be. Maybe, like fake fight him like you do with Remus - but don’t get involved with him.” Virgil said as he started to shake. “I can’t lose you all…” Virgil mumbled.

Both Janus and Patton got up before pulling him to the couch. They sat Virgil in between the both of them. The two held him close as they went about calming Virgil down. Patton held his hands as he sat in between Virgil’s legs making his older brother focus on him. Janus, whose chest was up against Virgil’s back held him around the waist. It took a bit of time for Virgil to calm down, in that time Virgil had gotten Patton to lay on him like they did when they were younger. The three now laid on the couch in a pile of blankets and pillows as they listened to music. Virgil took note that during part of his anxiety attack they must have gotten changed because they were now in their everyday clothes. Virgil vaguely remembered them both calming him separately during parts of it and rationalized the other had gone to change during that time.

Patton now laid on top of Virgil and was sleeping, Virgil worried that if he moved he’d wake his brother up. He could feel the even breath of Janus under him and looked back to see him smiling down at Virgil.

“W-what?” Virgil mumbled softly.

“I was thinking of when we were kids. When you first entered our lives. We thought you hated us..” Janus whispered so he didn’t wake Patton up.

“Of course I didn’t hate you all… I know you all know that now. God I was so scared back then, I thought everyone would treat me the way they did. You all kept me safe though, even when I tried to run away from you all..” Virgil smiled as he spoke.

“You know, we never talk about it - the others and myself I mean, but I feel like we wouldn’t have really considered becoming heroes if it weren’t for you. We all felt so protective of you before you even opened up to us. As we grew we became protective of even more people, we knew you could hold your own, but there were people who couldn’t.” Janus mumbled into Virgil’s shoulder.

“I didn’t know that… It’s kinda funny..” Virgil leaned his head against Janus’s.

“What? That we became heroes because of you yet you dislike that we’re heroes?” Janus chuckled.

“Yeah.” Virgil mumbled as he stifled a yawn.

“Wanna nap?” Janus said, stifling his own yawn.

“Ye….” Virgil said as he closed his eyes, quickly drifting off.

Janus smiled before kissing Virgil’s forehead. Janus didn’t remember how long it was after that he closed his eyes and fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This version of the story has no cussing, I am aware that some people dislike cussing so I made this version without cussing. There will also be violence in some of the chapters and I will be putting a warning in the beginning of that chapter then a summary of the events of said chapter in the end notes. If you notice I missed any cuss words please comment and let me know so I can edit it!
> 
> I'm keeping the chapters short so it's easier to read, I hope you all enjoy the story.
> 
> Oh jeez I got a lot more writing ahead of me if I want to build a stockpile of chapters back up! Wish me luck yall!

Patton woke to snickering and cooing. He didn’t open his eyes at first but the annoyed sigh from his brother underneath him made him listen to what was being said.

“Oh god you all are just so cute!” Roman whisper-shouted.

“You’ve said that already.” Janus, Logan, and Virgil said in unison.

“I swear you better delete those pictures Remus.” Virgil warned.

“I swear you better send those to me.” Roman retorted.

“They are rather cute at the moment, it is understandable as to why you’d want to take pictures.” Logan stated.

“I wouldn’t mind if you sent me a few pics.” Janus said with a smile.

“You son of a- You’ve betrayed me.” Virgil pouted out.

This caused the others to snicker again.

“Mornin’ guys…” Patton said as he sat up slightly.

“Did we wake you Pat?” Virgil asked as he handed his brother his glasses.

“Nu-uh.” was all Patton Managed.

“Real convincing padre.” Roman said as he sat on the sofa.

“Hm. When did you three get back?” Patton asked as he fully sat up.

“Well I got home later than expected because I got caught up with some fans and then Remus.” Roman boasted.

“I got here at four twenty. I stayed back a few minutes so I was a bit late. I saw you all sleeping and decided to not wake you.” Logan said from his arm chair.

“I had to go to the store to get the shit for dinner, so I just got back, Ro and I actually ran into each other when I was on the way to the store after he was mobbed by some fans.” Remus said as he sat next to his brother, throwing his legs up onto Roman’s lap.

“What kind of curry will you be making Remus?” Virgil asked.

“Right!... About that, it’s gonna take some time to make it and it’s already eight forty so I thought we could get take out, or eat the pizza.” Remus shrugged as he poked Romans arm a few times.

“No thank you, Virgil and I had pizza for lunch. I’d rather have take out.” Janus said, causing Virgil to hum in agreement.

“I have to agree with Janus, I had pizza today already, I’d rather not have it twice.” Roman mumbled as he swatted his brother’s hand away.

“Right, well in that case should we just use postmates or whatever it’s called?” Logan suggested.

“Yeah. While we eat we should talk about what happened with Janus and I today.” Patton said. He sat with his back to the couch with his brother’s legs in his lap.

“Virgil also figured out a few things about Destroyer.” Janus smiled as he looked down at the man still snuggled in his arms.

“I haven’t figured out anything, I’ve just theorized. I could be completely wrong.” Virgil said as he rolled his eyes.

“It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve figured out things about our foes.” Roman stated.

“Yes. You have been a huge help in the past. I sometimes wonder if you have latent abilities, perhaps heightened foresight and perception? I mean, yes you are extremely intelligent, but even the most intelligent don’t always pick up on the kinds of things you do. It’s honestly remarkable how you can figure things out with little information. Almost like you were there when it happened.” Logan said, praising his younger friend.

“Uh - no. You know that even latent powers would still show up in the gene test. I would have to have a perception manipulation power to hide the fact that I do indeed have powers.” Virgil said without a second thought.

Everyone stopped and looked at him, a stunned silence fell over the room. Virgil took a second to notice. He sat up and looked at his friends.

“What?...” Virgil asked.

“Perception manipulations can only permanently change something if someone has extreme control over their powers…” Janus was the first to speak. When he did it was quiet and sounded forced.

Virgil sat there for a moment, his heart sinking, “You… You don’t think that?”

“Destroyer is more than strong enough to do it..” Logan mumbled.

“Oh god…” Roman whispered.

“God, so we probably can’t even track him by his powers!” Remus said as he stood up.

“Tha- that is only if he does have perception changing powers!” Patton said.

Virgil sat and thought for a moment, “You all seemed very sure that he had perception manipulation powers.” Virgil could feel the unease and distress in the room. He looked to Janus who nodded.

“Virgil actually thought that maybe perception wasn’t one of his original powers. We think one of the powers to suppress and bolster people’s powers, the other is to copy peoples powers, in which he’d then be able to possibly allow others to use those powers though we haven’t seen him do that.” Janus explained.

“To copy powers? So you think the perception and elemental manipulation is something he simply borrows from people?” Logan asked.

“Most likely, though people probably don’t even realize he’s doing it. If he is truly working alone then they’re probably powers from people he knows, or at the very least people he can come into contact with daily. It is possible that if he copies a power once that he never has to do it again, though if that were the case I don’t see why he wouldn’t use other powers as well.” Roman said.

“So what, he only has the power to copy or use two powers at once then? Like everyone else?” Remus asked as he sat back down.

“I’d assume so, the human body can’t control more than two powers.” Patton reasoned.

“Unless he can use his enhancement power and it can last long enough for him to do so, but that wouldn’t really make sense since he only ever uses elemental manipulation, perception manipulation, and power manipulation, but never more than one of those at one time. Which could also mean that he has to keep his power to control other powers active at all times to not lose the two powers he burrows..” Remus scratched his head as he thought.

“Okay this is starting to make my head hurt..” Roman grumbled.

“I don’t think there is anymore that could be said about the powers. Should I tell what happened between the Destroyer and I?” Janus mumbled to Patton who nodded in return.

“As you all know I went out today to look into Destroyer more, which Virgil knows already.. Anyways, while I was out I was taking a small break and sitting on a rooftop. I was then approached by Destroyer. He said I need to be more vigilant of my surroundings, he then noted that I am never out at this time. I tried to escape, but he was behind me before I was able to.” Janus took a moment to collect his breath before he continued talking, “He got ahold of me before slamming me into a wall, and pinning me. I was able to then get away again, but then we started fighting, ending with me trapped under him on the ground. He tried to take my mask off, but I pulled my head away, and he didn’t try again. Instead he responded to me telling him to get it over with by taunting me with you all - saying “Do your friends know you’re suicidal?” or some annoying shit. Without thinking I asked him what he was going to do to you all. He said he wouldn’t do anything to us, before he was able to explain what he meant by that Patton came up and kneed him in the face. Destroyer then made it seem like he knew a lot about us and other individuals… He keeps tabs on people.” Janus finished.

“Wait, he went easy on you?” Roman asked.

“He isn’t going to hurt us? What bull.” Remus grumbled.

“Patton caught him off guard…” Logan mumbled into his hands.

The others looked to Logan, and then to Janus and Patton. There was a silence in the room as they tried to understand.

“He was solely focused on Janus, I think that just shows how serious he was about it. To let his guard down in a place any hero, vigante, and or villain could get to.” Virgil mumbled.

“Maybe what Virgil said when we told him is right, he’s only killing curtain people. He actively has an agenda and is following it.” Patton sighed.

“Also like I said, that doesn’t mean he won’t target you all if you get in his way!” Virgil glared at his brother as he spoke. Patton threw his hands up in a placting manner.

“Well if we can’t find out who he is from his power set, then perhaps we could by who he is going after.” Logan reasoned.

“He’s killed one hundred and ten people, there’s no way there is a link to all of them.” Remus rolled his eyes.

“Perhaps not, but just because he has one agenda doesn’t mean he can’t have multiple.” Roman shrugged.

“We can put them into active categories though. People of power, people who cause others harm, and those who act selfishly.” Logan said.

“Right, so in the first category we have heroes, politicians, and the like. The second would be some vigilante and basically all of the villains. In the third we have Vigilante and villains again.” Janus thought out loud.

“Wouldn’t it just be better to say that there’s two categories?” Roman asked.

“Possibly but to be safe we should say three.” Logan said.

“I could look into the second one. I’d also argue that all villains are in that category, whereas the Vigilante’s would be in the third category. While vigilante’s act selfishly they often avoid hurting people who aren’t Villains which is why they’re in the grey - they’re either people who stop villains in a more deadly way, or they’re villains who refuse to hurt innocents and shit.” Remus said.

“I could look into the hero database to get the information on the first and last category.” Logan nodded to himself.

“What should we do?” Roman asked as he looked between Patton and Janus.

“Well I’m not supposed to be going out..” Janus said guiltily.

“You can, just be more safe…” Virgil mumbled quietly as he looked down.

“I thought you didn’t want Remus or I to go out?” Janus questioned.

“I mean I don’t want you to - I don’t want any of you to, but I can’t stop you all, I learned that today. So I’d rather know you all are out there than be lied to..” Virgil said, still not looking up.

This caused the others to go quiet, feeling guilty for keeping the truth from their friend. Patton looked between everyone, Janus and Remus were looking at Virgil with a look of hurt and regret on their face. Logan had a neutral expression whereas Roman looked disappointed, most likely in himself and the others.

“It’s fine guys chill.” Virgil spoke up. He waited a moment before chuckling, “I’m hungry let’s order food.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This version of the story has no cussing, I am aware that some people dislike cussing so I made this version without cussing. There will also be violence in some of the chapters and I will be putting a warning in the beginning of that chapter then a summary of the events of said chapter in the end notes. If you notice I missed any cuss words please comment and let me know so I can edit it!

Logan sat in the study with Remus as they both read. The others decided to watch a movie before bed but Logan wanted to do some more research. 

Looking up from his tablet he spotted Remus laying on the floor with his feet in the chair across from him. Logan wasn’t sure why Remus had decided to join him. Yes, they were dating, but Remus has always had a hard time sitting still long enough to actually do any research. Logan watched Remus as he flipped through a seemingly random file. He was repeatedly kicking his feet to the tune of the song he had been humming for some time. There was a large lopsided smile on his face as he read.

“What’s up specs? Like what you see?” Remus chuckled as he looked over at his boyfriend. He had been watching Logan out of his peripheral vision but hadn’t decided to speak up till Logan started to smile.

“No, nothing is up really, and yes - I like what I see very much.” Logan spoke softly - a softness that was only reserved for when one of his friends were sick or hurt, or alternatively when he was with his love.

Remus flushed and dropped the file on his face to hide it. Logan was cheating with that small smile and soft tone, it made Remus melt every single time!

Logan chuckled at Remus as he sat the tablet to the side and slid gracefully off of his chair to sit next to Remus on the floor. Remus moved the folder before wordlessly extending his hand. 

Logan considered for a moment and when Remus thought it was a moment too long he started to lower his hand, “It’s fine Lo, you don’t have to.”

Logan raised an eyebrow as he took Remus’s hand. “I know that Remus, but I do want to hold your hand… I was just thinking.” Logan mumbled the last part.

It was Remus’s turn to raise an eyebrow, adding a head tilt as well. “About what my dear? The shit with Destroyer?” 

“No, I don’t understand how you can be so….” Logan bit his tongue as he tried to think of the right word.

“Weird?” Remus chuckled.

“Although you are strange, so is everyone else... I don’t understand how you can be with me…” Logan spoke unsure of how to correctly say what he wanted, which was very much unlike himself, then again he was always at a loss when it came to romance.

“I love you Lo and I understand that you have a hard time with intimacy let alone affection..” Remus sat up so he was at eye level with Logan.

“But you’ve always been extremely affectionate and intimate with your past boyfriends..” Logan looked down at their hands that were still intertwined. 

“Logan, those were lovers - not boyfriends. You’re my first boyfriend. The difference between them and you is that I just had sex with them. With you I’m with you because I love you. I can show my affection in other ways that aren’t so… Handys and physical.” Remus put his other hand on top of their intertwined ones.

Logan’s brows knitted together, “That’s why you came in here with me?” 

“Duh, I wanted to spend time with you.” Remus laughed slightly as he shook his head.

Logan smiled at him and they shared a moment of silence. “I.. I am not completely against the thought of a physical relationship. But to actually do it, that’s where the thought falls apart..” 

“And that’s completely fine…” Remus rubbed his thumb over Logan’s hand as he spoke.

“Thank you Remus, I love you.” Logan murmured.

“I love you too and no need to thank me..” Remus gave a big toothy smile.

Logan stared at Remus a moment longer before looking at the papers strone about the floor. “What’s all of this about?” he asked.

“They’re the papers Virgil and I wrote about power theory back in university. Remember, you helped with them?” Remus said as he organized the papers and handed them to Logan.

Logan took the papers though he missed the warmth of Remus’s hands. He looked over the papers, “Right, Virgil had taken an extra course the previous semester so he could be in that class with you- you had continuously begged him to take it with you.”

“Yep and I got an A because of him helping me study! I always hated power theory until I took it with Virgil!” Remus beamed.

“Janus felt so betrayed when he didn’t take the class with us. He didn’t talk to you for a week, right?” Logan chuckled.

“Yeah. You know for Virgil being so smart he never notices how childish Janus is when it comes to him.” Remus shook his head as he sighed.

“I am not childish when it comes to Virgil.” Janus hissed as he stepped around the chairs.

“Dear Janus were you trying to sneak up on us?” Remus faked a shocked expression.

“If I was trying to sneak up on you two then I would of.” Janus flipped Remus off as he stepped past him and pulled the desk chair over. Sitting down he looked at the folder that had been left on the ground. “You’re looking into power theory?”

“Despite what you said earlier I think there is more that could be said of the powers.” Remus stuck his tongue out at Janus.

“Oh?” Janus raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah - I just have to figure out what it is.” Remus smiled as Logan let out a surprised laughed.

“Right, and what are you doing pocket protector?” Janus smirked at Logan.

“I was looking into the victims. I’ve started with the civilians since that’ll be easier, well I thought it would. They all seem like completely normal people.” Logan mumbled. He bit his bottom lip as he thought before turning and picking up the tablet.

“There’s nothing connecting them?” Remus asked with a tilt of his head.

“All different races, religions, no criminal background, different backgrounds - wait…” Logan started to quickly swipe his finger up and down the tablet before looking up. “They’re all over the age of forty four.”

“What? How old is the oldest citizen he’s gone after?” Janus asked as he sat down.

“Ninety five.” Logan frowned.

“Okay, that’s weird. Maybe the heroes, vigilant, and villains will be younger?” Janus shrugged.

“Right, we know the three he killed yesterday weren’t that old. Able was twenty six, Fay was thirty, and Xander was twenty seven. They were all some pretty awful people though.” Remus started to flick Janus’s pant leg without thinking.

“Well.. Besides saying they were all crocked in some way or another, which is an assumption, we don’t have a clue as to why he is killing the civilians and heroes. The Vigilant and villains he’s killed have all been pretty shitty. Like, remember the one vigilant who had been stealing from local businesses? Which we never actually found out why he was doing that because he got killed before we could.” Janus leaned back in his chair as he spoke, ignoring Remus’s need to annoy people.

“He might of been doing other stuff that we hadn’t realized? Oh, come on - do you really think he’d kill someone over that? I mean, yeah most of those businesses went out of business after that, but like, the guy should have gone to prison not pay for it with his life.” Remus mumbled.

“But what if that was the reason he killed them? It did ruin peoples lives - and it really hurt local communities that oftentimes relied on those businesses for things in said communities. No, the man should not have died for that, but Destroyer is obviously unstable.” Logan took a deep breath before continuing, “What if we’ve been thinking he was doing this only to people who deserved it - and not just people who have made awful or maybe even just bad life choices?” When Logan finished he sat down the tablet and looked between the two.

“That is a possibility. You all have to keep an open mind too, but you also have to look at the possibility that these were truly bad people.” Virgil said from behind the chair Logan had been sitting in before. The other looked up quickly. 

“Why do you think that Emo?” Remus raised an eyebrow.

“You have to be prepared for anything and everything to go wrong. While it’s easier to think that Destroyer is just a lunatic that thinking could keep you all from finding out more information about him. Don’t get me wrong, you shouldn’t think he is some anti-hero who is only doing what’s right in brutal ways.” Virgil mumbled as he looked down at the tablet.

“We should have no expectations. That is a lot easier said than done, but we do need to be impartial.” Janus nodded.

“I’d disagree, I mean I understand what you’re trying to say, but we have to expect something. We can’t go into this thinking anything could be the answer because that could, and most likely will mislead us.” Logan looked up at Virgil who had moved to standing next to him.

Virgil looked at him for a moment before nodding, “Yeah, that’s an extremely fair point.” 

“Maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves? We should look at all of his actions before looking at his victims.” Roman said as he walked in with Patton following close behind him.

“To try and understand him better?” Janus asked.

“Of course the actor would say that.” Remus teased.

“Yeah yeah, shut it Remus.” Roman deadpanned before sticking his tongue out.

“I don’t want to try and understand him though!” Patton frowned at Roman.

“I think what Roman means is that if we examine his actions and behaviors then we could understand him better. That way we aren’t guessing as to what he would and wouldn’t do.” Logan interjected. 

“You’re referring to making a profile. Which is all any of what you all have been trying to do is. Exam everything about him, figure out how he works, figure out what he’ll do next, then catch him...” Virgil stated before trailing off as Roman came over and wrapped his arms around his waist. “...You better not suplex me.” Virgil mumbled as he looked down at his friend.

“I would never! I’m not Remus.. Anyways I have figured out what I’ll be doing.” Roman said as he started to climb Virgil.

“Wha- Roman could you not do this right now, please?” Virgil protested as the smaller man shimmied up him. 

“Nope, we’re doing this.” Roman said with a grin.

“We’re not kids anymore! You’re only a few inches shorter than me!” Virgil complained.

“You got to snuggle with Janus and Patton earlier like how you all used to! I want you to carry me to bed like you used to!” Roman whined.

“Anyways,” Janus started as he ignored his two friends, “I do believe that Roman will need help looking into his actions. That’s a good while of consistent activity.” 

“Right, though we should save this for later - it is pretty late.” Patton said as he watched his brother carry Roman out of the library, Virgil grumbling the whole way out the door.

“Yeah that’s a good idea.” Remus jumped up and smiled at Janus.

“I swear Remus if you try to do that shit to me I’m throwing you out the window.” Janus muttered before walking out. 

The others followed close behind Janus. Patton was consoling Remus whilst Logan just shook his head. Once they had reached the second floor they heard Virgil yelling out “YEET!” and then a screech from Roman.

“What the...?” Janus said looking up the stairs.

“I think Virgil just threw Roman.” Logan said as he stopped Remus from falling down the stairs from how hard he was laughing.

“I’ll go check on them.” Patton said worriedly as he quickly ascended the stairs. When Patton got to the door of Romans room he had to duck out of the way of a flying pillow.

“You threw me!” Roman cried out from his bed as he picked up another pillow.

“I tossed you. You drama queen.” Virgil said as he barely dodged a pillow being thrown at him. “Besides you landed on your bed and it's payback for you making me carry you up two flights of stairs.

“Kiddos you shouldn’t horse around before bed.” Patton chimed in as he smiled at them from the doorway.

“Yes dad!” Roman said.

“He started it..” Virgil said with a shrug.

“Oh real mature Panic! At the Everywhere!!” Roman held up another pillow, ready to throw at any moment.

“Oh whatever Sir Sing Alot.” Virgil said before tossing Roman his pillow. “Good night you two. Love you Patton.” Virgil said as he walked over and gave his brother a good night hug.

“What no hug for me?! Or a ‘I love you’?! The audacity!” Roman cried out.

Virgil looked back before rolling his eyes. He walked over to Roman who smiled up at him victoriously. Virgil stood there annoyed for a minute before flopping down onto Roman and hugging him. “Good night Princy!” He said before blowing a raspberry on his forehead and getting up. Roman freaked out and rolled away from Virgil, causing him to roll off the other side of the bed. 

“Evil man!” Roman called out to the already gone Virgil.

“You should know better by now Roman.” Patton said as he tried not to laugh. 

“Bleh! He’s only like this when he’s in a mood. Which he hasn’t been for a while!” Roman mumbled.

“Isn’t it more likely that it’s because we don’t play like we used to?” Patton asked.

“...You’re right! We don’t play around much at all anymore..” Roman said as he frowned.

“Well, if we want to start doing that again then we just gotta do it!” Patton giggled.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Roman smiled as he looked up, “I’ve decided, we need to make it our side quest to make the others smile and play around more!” He threw his hands up as he made his dramatic declaration. 

“Sounds like a plan!” Patton beamed from the doorway. “Now we should really be going to bed. Night Roman.”

“Night Patton.” Roman said as he watched his friend retreat into the hallway as he closed Romans door.


	10. Not a chapter sadly

Bad news bears: My laptop is broken.

My dad will be trying to fix it, but I felt that incase he cannot fix it and we have to wait to get me a new laptop then you all should know. I do not have a phone, and I write the chapters on Google docs before bringing them here to edit and upload.

The only reason why I'm able to add this "chapter" is because my dad was kind enough to allow me to use his phone long enough to upload this.

I will continue to write the story on paper and once I have a laptop again I will then upload this. My father is an extremely smart man, but my laptop is six or seven years old, so I have no idea if my laptop will be able to be fixed.

In all honesty it might just be best for me get a new laptop because my current laptop has to stay plugged in to be used, the mouse pad doesn't work, and the headphone jack hasn't worked since I got it lol. If the laptop is too expensive to fix or just flat out unfixable then it most likely won't be till Christmas or my birthday, Janurary 20th of next year till I get a new laptop.

I hope you all stay safe and have a good time till I can upload again next. Thank you so much for reading and showing support for my story. You all will never understand just how much it means to me. ~ Ya boi Bennie.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This version of the story has no cussing, I am aware that some people dislike cussing so I made this version without cussing. There will also be violence in some of the chapters and I will be putting a warning in the beginning of that chapter then a summary of the events of said chapter in the end notes.
> 
> IIIII'mmmmmm bbbbaaaacccckkkkk! I'll explain some stuff about my absence in the end notes, so if you are interested in that then please feel free to look at the endnotes before or after ya lovelys read the chapter.
> 
> It's kinda a long chapter too, but it was hard to find a breakpoint to leave off for the next chapter. I will be trying to upload another chapter on 26/10 (Day/month) due to my absence and missing two chapter uploads.

“You… Want to make a giant pillowfort while the others are still asleep?” Remus asked skeptically.

“Yes! I was falling asleep when the thought hit me!” We should turn the living room into a giant pillow kingdom and surprise them in the morning! Just like we used to when we’d have sleepovers!” Roman said excitedly.

“Roman. That’s lame. You also need to use blankets!” Remus rolled his eyes at his twin.

“Good point..” Roman nodded.

“The engineering for this job is going to be hard.” Remus stated.

“Perhaps we can get Logans help? He’s smart.” Roman mumbled.

“No he’d tell us to go to bed.” Remus laughed slightly.

“Janus would too.” Roman tilted his head to the side in thought. “There’s Virgil…” 

“He’d kill us if he knew we even thought about waking him.” Remus shuddered slightly.

“You’d know, wouldn’t you?” Roman laughed as he recalled the memory.

“Yeah. Well that leaves Patton. Would you like to ask him, lover boy?” Remus wiggled his eyebrows at Roman, which promptly got a pillow thrown at him.

“Yes I’ll go ask. You start getting the needed things and bringing them downstairs. Remember to do it quietly. Janus is a super light sleeper.” Roman stuck his tongue out at the prospect of waking Janus up.

Before Remus could answer Roman had already left to Pattons room. Roman walked to Pattons door and stopped in front of it. Should they wake Patton up for something so pointless? Even if it was for their side quest it was late at night, no - now it was considered the early morning. Before Roman could change his mind Patton opened the door and ran into him.

“Omph!” Patton exclaimed into Romans chest. After a second he stepped back and looked up to find a flustered Roman, “Oh hey, what’s up Roman?” Patton asked.

“Uh… Oh, right! I came up with a plan for our side quest… Remus is helping. It’s to build a giant pillow and blanket fort in the living room and surprise the others with it in the morning. Would you like to help?” Roman asked. As he had gone about explaining it he couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face due to the shine in Patton’s eyes.

“That sounds amazing!” Patton quietly squealed.

“Right? That’s what I thought!” Remus is already getting the pillows and Blankets together.” Roman stated.

“Oh good. How about you help him and I make us drinks and snacks for us to have while we work?” Patton asked.

“You always have the brightest ideas.” Roman said enthusiastically.

“Awww, shucks..” Patton said as he started to descend the stairs.

“I’ll be down in a minute, I’m going to get some of the blanket and pillows from my room.” Roman said.

“Feel free to get the ones from my room too!” Patton said before disappearing completely down the steps.

Roman smiled as he went into his room to collect the things he’d need. It was going to be rather cumbersome to carry all of the pillows, stuffed animals, and blankets down the stairs which meant he’d have to make multiple trips with only small armfulls at a time. Roman thought to himself for a moment before laying a blanket out on his bed and putting the pillows and few stuffed animals in at a time. He stopped when his hands landed on an old stuffed lion. He stared down at it and a large smile spread across his face.

“He bit me!” Roman yelled as he held his arm, “The emo freaking bit me!”

“Oh geez! I’m so sorry Roman, I had no idea he’d do that!” Patton looked Romans arm over as Virgil ran out of the back door of the house.

“I honestly can’t blame him. He told you to stop and let him go, but you kept trying to mess with him.” Janus sighed as he walked into the kitchen to grab the first aid kit from under the sink. “I mean, really now Virgil is smaller than you are, and weaker, so there was no way he’d be able to overpower you without playing dirty.”

“Not to mention that he was scared.” Logan said as he looked out the back door, seeing the footprints in the snow leading into the woods behind the house.

“Why would anyone be scared of Roman? I mean come on he’s so stupid he’d be more of a danger to himself.” Remus snickered from the table he was sitting on.

Logan and Janus looked at each other, Janus biting his lip and Logan looking skeptical. They stared at each other for sometime before Janus finally looked down and started to speak, much quieter than the confident boy had ever before, “We, Logan and I… We think that Virgil was abused before Auntie May and Uncle Drew adopted Virgil..” 

The younger three boys looked at each other in shock before Patton spoke up, “Is… Is that why he always tries to get away from us? And why he won’t let mommy and daddy touch him?”

“Most likely. Our grade had a seminar about abuse. The fifth and fourth graders should be having it next week… The seminar went into details about the different kinds of abuse, and how it’s not our fault if something like that happens and that we should speak up..” Logan explained.

“Logan and I realised something was wrong when we saw Virgil wasn’t there. He was the only seventh grader who was in school that day that wasn’t there.” Janus stated.

“At first I thought it was because our seminar goes into more details than the sixth grade one, and that because he had skipped a grade that they didn’t want him hearing the more graphic bits of information.” Logan sighed before continuing, “but then we started thinking about how he behaves - how skittish he is… So we asked our teacher about the effects abuse has on people.. It’s different for everyone, but an example they gave does coincide with Virgil’s behavior.”

“Oh…” Roman muttered as he looked down at his freshly bandage arm.

“Wait, did Virgil have a jacket or shoes on?” Patton spoke up as he ran over to the back door.

“He had both a jacket and shoes on, though that jacket is far too light to keep him warm in the winter.” Remus said as he hopped off of the table. “We should probably bring him back before he freezes to death.”

“What!?” Patton shrieked.

“Why’d you say that you idiot!?” Roman said as he smacked his brother on the back of his head.

“What? It’s a possibility! It snowed for crying out loud.” Remus muttered.

“No, it’s 30 degrees fahrenheit (-1.11 celsius) outside. Although it is possible to freeze to death at 30 degrees fahrenheit, it’s extremely unlikely. However he could, and most likely will catch a cold if he stays out there for a long amount of time.” Logan explained. “Though if he falls into the creek in the woods then it’d be much more likely that he would die.”

It was now Janus’s turn to smack Logan on the back of the head, “That is not something that needs to be said right now!” Janus hissed out.

“Right sorry.” Logan muttered.

Janus rolled his eyes before turning to the younger three, “You all should stay here while Logan and I look for him. Although we’d cover more ground with all five of us, you all should wait for Auntie and Uncle to come home in case we can’t find him.”

“Patton should stay then, Roman and I can be of help.” Remus said as he started to get his jacket on.

“What no! He’s my brother, I should go find him!” Patton whined.

“Patton, you’re not as fast as the rest of us. Leave this to the older kids. Besides, your mom and dad should hear it from you that your brother ran off.” Roman said.

“You are right about the part with Patton, but you two need to stay here. Roman he ran off because you scared him, and Remus is always scaring him. We want to get him to come back with us, not to run away again.” Janus said as he rolled his eyes once again.

“Yes. It's as Janus said... You all should be ready with blankets, hot chocolate, and the like.” Logan said as he put his Jacket and scarf on. “Patton could I borrow your scarf to give to him on the way back?”

“Oh, yeah! Of course, take my gloves too!” Patton said as he ran over to his coat to get them. “Please bring him back.. Even if he shouldn’t of bit Roman I don’t want anything bad to happen to him..” Patton brought the gloves and scarf over to Logan, looking up at him with big puppy dog eyes.

“Of course we’ll bring him back.” Janus said as he patted Patton on the head.

Roman watched as the two stepped out of the sliding glass door, closing it behind them, and then turning and running into the woods. “I’m sorry Patton… I didn’t realize that me tickling him would cause this to happen… I was just trying to play with him.”

“Oh, it’s okay Roman. I know you weren’t trying to hurt or scare him.. I didn’t even realize that something like that would cause him to get so upset. I feel so stupid! How could I not realize what he had been through?!” Patton started to tear up.

“Aw, come on Pat, we’re still just kids. If it weren’t for Logan or Janus then we’d still not have realized it, and we’re older than you are!” Roman hugged Patton as he started to comfort him.

“Right, but why hadn’t auntie May or uncle Drew said anything to us? Surely they know.” Remus said as he walked into the kitchen to start warming up the milk for the hot chocolate.

The other two followed. Patton rubbed his eyes as he hummed, “I don’t know, I think they don’t even know what’s happened to Virgil. Virgil doesn’t talk much, and I’ve never heard him talk about his past before.”

“So they probably didn’t want to tell us something that’s possibly false. Surely they could tell by his actions that something bad like that had happened in his past, but they have no way of knowing what it was.” Roman guessed.

“I guess that makes sense. It could of caused us to treat him differently. We know that we’d still try to befriend him, but sometimes kids can be pretty awful.” Remus said as he looked at his brother and friend.

“Right.” Roman agreed.

“I’ll go get the blankets out of the wardrobe.” Patton mumbled.

“Would you like help?” Roman asked.

“No, I’m good. You two focus on the hot coco.” Patton said with a smile before running out of the room.

“It must be hard on him.” Remus mumbled.

“He wants to make Virgil feel at home, but when he thinks he is starting to understand Virgil something like this happens.” Roman said.

“It’s continuously throwing him for a loop.” Remus finished off.

“Ugh, we did it again.” Roman said as he shivered. 

“We spend almost every minute of the day together. Of course we’re gonna know what the other is thinking to some extent.” Remus said as he chuckled and rolled his eyes.

“Remus, do you think he’ll forgive me? Do you think that we’ll ever be friends?” Roman said as he looked towards the back door.

“What?” Remus looked over before following his brother's gaze. “Oh. I honestly don’t know. We have to be there for him. Show him we’ll never hurt him and that kind of stuff, I guess?”

“Yeah.. Yeah you’re right!” Roman said as he jumped up.

“But, we also have to realize that sometimes people don’t get along. So, if once he opens up to us and one or more of us don’t get along well with him we’ll just have to accept it.” Remus pointed out.

“Way to lift my spirits and then slam me back down…” Roman mumbled.

“You’re welcome.” Remus said as he stirred the milk.

“Patton’s taking a while, isn’t he?” Roman asked.

“ Not really? What are ya worried about him?~” Remus ask as he wiggles his eyebrows.

“O-of course I’m worried about Patton! His brother just ran to god knows where in the middle of winter! When there’s snow out too…” Roman mumbled as he walked out of the kitchen in search of Patton. He walked through the living room into the hallway. “Patton?” He softly called out. 

“Roman! Are they back yet?” Patton asked as he poked his head out of the bathroom.

“No, not unless they came in after I came in here…. Which I guessed we’d most likely hear.” Roman mumbled the last part as he rubbed the back of his neck. It took Roman a moment to look at Patton, and when he did the guilt he had already been feeling skyrocketed. Patton was smiling like he always did, but his eyes and nose were red - he’d been crying because he was worried about Virgil, and he was worried about Virgil because Roman had been an idiot. “I-I’m sorry Patton..” Roman mumbled.

“It’s fine Roman - really it is, you didn’t know that’d happen. Your arm is okay right?” Patton asked as he walked over, looking at the bandaged arm again.

“Yeppo! It doesn’t even hurt anymore!” Roman said with a big smile.

“That’s good. Could you help me with these blankets? I can only reach a few of them.” Patton said.

“You keep blankets in the bathroom?” Roman asked as he looked into the bathroom, noticing the small wardrobe that had always been closed was now open. “Oh it’s a towel closet.”

“Yep, mommy and daddy call it a lilent closet I think?” Patton said. 

“It’s called a linen closet.” Logan said from behind Roman, scaring both of the younger boys.

“Is Virgil-” Patton started to ask but was cut off by Logan shaking his head.

“We can’t find him anywhere, Janus and I ran the whole Acre Woods but found no sign of him.” Logan mumbled.

“What should we do?! Mama and daddy could be out for a few more hours!” Patton cried.

“He has to be there somewhere! He wouldn’t go back into the neighborhood because he’d be scared of the people. Maybe he climbed a tree or something?” Roman wondered.

“Possibly. Could you come help us look? Janus and I can talk to him while you hang back. Patton you stay here and get everything ready. If we aren’t back in ten then call my dad. You know my house line right?” Logan asked.

“Yeah!” Patton nodded before reciting the number.

Roman smiled at Patton before reaching past him and getting the Blankets that Patton couldn’t reach. He brought them into the family room, placing them on the back of the couch. He looked into the kitchen, “Remus I’m going back out with Logan. Stay here with Patton please.” Roman said as he got his jacket on.

“Okie dokie. Find him before he becomes a Virgil-icle~” Remus said in a singsong pattern.

“Don’t say that shit around Patton…” Roman grumbled. 

“I’ll try not to.” Remus mumbled as a smirk spread across his face.

Roman shot Remus a glare, warning him not to upset Patton anymore than he already is.

Remus, in turn, nodded as he rolled his eyes, making a shooing motion with the hand that wasn’t stirring the milk.

“Okay, I’m ready Lo.” Roman said as he turned to the older boy. 

Logan opened the back door for Roman with the simple response of, “after you.”

Roman nodded before running out the back door, followed closely by Logan. He wished the older two would have just let him come along to begin with, but even if they had, there was a chance of not finding him. Roman also wished that when they found the emo that he’d be perfectly fine and capable of at least hearing Romans apology.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, hello weary traveler! Please come in, I'll make the tea whilst you get settled.
> 
> I'm in a mood, have been for a few days now. Is it a bad mood? Is it a good mood? I have no idea, it's just more weird than my usual self.
> 
> So! onto why y'all came down to read the end notes. Life is crazy. I actually found out that my laptop was indeed not broken, it's the charger that is on it's way out. I mean, my laptop is pretty broken, but it's hanging on there - as long as it's plugged into the charger, oh wait.... Yeah my laptop has been shutting off at random when I move my laptop or charger ever so slightly. I actually had started to try and upload this chapter around 11:40 PM on 24/11, but my laptop kept getting shut off while I was making the notes, which caused me to get frustrated and now it's 25/10... Meh.
> 
> We found out my laptop wasn't broken literally the next day after I uploaded "chapter ten", but since then the day after the last update (18/10) things have been crazy. 
> 
> You might be wonder; "Bennie, how has things been crazy?"
> 
> Well! For one, thank you so much for asking. Sometimes I feel like no one cares. Anywho!~ My family and I are living in a home that we're currently renting. There are many problems in this house, but it's not a bad house. My mom offered (suggested? idk) to the wife of the man who owns the house that we'd like to buy the house. This caused the wife and husband to look into selling the house! Though we have no idea if they'll sell it to us... Also, we're not under a lease - so they could kick us out at any time! The reason why we aren't under a lease is because we were only supposed to live here up until last spring, but because they were still down in Mexico we asked if they'd be willing to allow us to stay till the same time next year. They said yes, so we were then supposed to do a walk through of the house with the agency that is looking over it. Well the agency kept dodging us until a month ago. And in that time my dad has tried to do a virtual walk through of the house with them multiple times - each time falling through. Then my parents got tired of that bullshit so they decided to clean the house, video tape the walk through, and send it to the agency. Which cleaning the house took two days because we've been rearranging and straightening out a bunch of stuff. So I wasn't online from the 18th to basically the 20th. 
> 
> During all of this I wasn't getting much of any sleep because I messed up my sleep schedule a couple of months ago, and I'm now trying to fix it. Which leads into the 21st through the 22nd, I got sick. You see dear reader, I have chronic headaches, I have had chronic headaches for thirteen years (Most of my life), and although I can ignore them normally, sometimes, SOMETIMES, I also get vertigo with them. And when I get vertigo, I get violently ill. So, yeah. It wasn't that bad on Thursday, and WOW was Thursday a perfect time for it to ease up.
> 
> Thursday! Right after I got out of the shower around 10 PM and came into the family room to hang out with my parents a bit before bed I noticed my dog Woody acting strange. He was having a seizure. So I got my parents attention. At first we thought it was from a snake bite because we live out in the country (Kinda), and we took him to an emergency 24 hours vet in the city we live just outside of... Well we were there till 2 something in the morning. They found nothing as to why he'd randomly have a seizure. Don't worry, Woody is fine. Him and Buzz were so happy to see each other after the four(ish) hours they spent apart, it was adorable. Well anyways, I ended up having a panic attack and stayed up till roughly 6 Am.
> 
> Onto friday! A realtor was supposed to come over to look at the house and take pictures, and I had a doctors appointment at 9 in the morning. I got two hours of sleep between when I went to bed and when I woke up. I ended up having the appointment over the phone, then I went back to sleep. The realtor showed up while I was asleep, but didn't take pictures of the house for whatever reason?? I ended up waking up, eating (I think? can't remember) and then chilling, I was basically brain dead. 
> 
> Then Saturday. I was dragged out of the house by my parents to get our flu shots, we stayed in town for a bit, got back around 5:40 PM, I chilled out then did the dishes and went to bed.... Where I laid in my bed for six hours, in the dark, doing nothing.
> 
> Today was calm. I listened to my friends and brothers do a D&D one-shot (I wasn't in because I've been to overwhelmed lately.), I watched the new Game Grumps video, and then I finished the chapter, and started trying to upload it. And oh what a hastel that has been. 
> 
> Wow, this endnote was a mini chapter all in of itself.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This version of the story has no cussing, I am aware that some people dislike cussing so I made this version without cussing. There will also be violence in some of the chapters and I will be putting a warning in the beginning of that chapter then a summary of the events of said chapter in the end notes.
> 
> I did not think that this flashback would be longer than two chapters, but I was wrong. It won't be any longer than three chapters for sure.... Watch me say that and it ends up biting me in the butt.

Roman looked back at Logan once they were out of sight of the house. “You searched the whole wooded area and you didn’t see him?”

“That’s right. Because of the creek and pond there aren't too many places he can hide and because of the freshly fallen snow we can’t look for footprints.” Logan sighed.

“Do you know what area Janus would be in?” Roman asked.

“Yeah, he jumped the creek and is searching on the other side.” Logan said. He frowned, his brows knitting together as he started to think. “We haven’t seen him jump, but he’s quick, so he might have been able to jump the creek without falling in, but there’s a chance he did in fact fall in.” 

“Let’s hope not. That creek is too slow to have dragged him away. So he’d just be soaked and freezing.” Roman frowned as he looked up in the trees. “Is he strong enough to climb a tree?”

“I don’t know. I’m going to look around the creek and pond. He might have fallen in and then stayed on this side of the woods. If you end up finding him then call for Janus and I.” Logan said as he started to run off.

“Okay…” Roman said as he looked to his right. At least he had a much smaller part of the woods to search now.

Roman sighed before stepping deeper into the woods, taking it slow as he looked around. He walked between the trees, paying closer attention to trees that’d be easier to climb. He almost didn’t notice once he was on the edge of the woods behind Remus and his house. However he did notice the black sneaker laying on it’s side in the snow. 

Roman took a deep breath before walking up to it and looking around. Virgil had left his shoe, maybe he tripped and it came off? Roman looked up into the tree above and let out a shriek as he fell back into the snow. In the tree above him, perhaps thirty - no, forty feet up was a hunched up black figure looking down at him. 

“Roman! Are you okay?!” Janus said as he ran over, Logan shortly behind him. 

“Virgil is a little tree gremlin! He scared the crap out of me!” Roman softly shouted as he pointed up at the boy.

“Wha- oh. That’s creepy.” Janus said as he looked up.

“How did he even get up there? The tree limb closest to the ground has to be at least fifteen feet up..” Logan mumbled as he looked up in amazement. 

“Virgil, could you come down please?” Janus called up. “If you want Roman could go back to the house ahead of us, if you don’t wanna be around him that is.”

Virgil tightened up into a ball more before hissing at Janus.

“I was afraid of that..” Janus sighed.

“Logan can just bring him down? I mean Virgil has to know it’s not safe up there, or to be out in this weather.” Roman tried to reason.

“I do not think I could get Virgil down without dropping him. My levitation is still not strong enough to carry a person, even if Virgil is a small person.” Logan said as he looked over at Roman.

“Yes, let’s not drop Virgil when he’s extremely high up.” Janus growled out softly.

“Then one of us should go up there and calm him down.” Roman concluded.

“I don’t think I could manage that…” Janus looked at the tree skeptically. “I’ll try though.” 

Roman and Logan watched as Janus walked up to the tree before circling it a few times. Finally after deciding the best spot to climb up he backs away from the tree. Roman looks to Logan who simply shrugs and they look back to find Janus running at the tree. 

“Is he going to run into the tree?” Roman murmured. 

“Surely not…” Logan said quietly. 

When Janus was about to run into the tree he jumped, placing his foot on the trunk before pushing up. He grabbed the lowest hanging branch - and for a moment he looked cool, until it snapped, causing both of them to fall. Janus landed with a thud and the simi large branch landed on top of him.

“Oh no!” Roman said as Logan and him ran over to Janus. Roman picked up the branch and tossed it off, thankful for his strength. 

“You okay Janus?” Logan asked as he kneeled down next to his friend. 

“I think I broke a rib..” Janus winced.

“Let’s hope it’s just bruised…” Roman mumbled. 

“Is he okay?” Virgil asked from his spot in the tree.

“Honestly Virge, it hurts like hell. Could you please come down?” Janus asked, no, he pleaded.

“Virge? Since when have you called him Virge?..” Roman asked quietly, electing a glare from Janus.

“....” Virgil looked away before mumbling something.

“Uh, sorry Virgil, we didn’t catch that.” Logan said as he raised a brow.

“I twisted my ankle on the way up here… And I lost my shoe..” Virgil said, just barely loud enough for them to hear.

“What should we do? I can take Janus back to the house and call my dad, I’m sure he’d be willing to come help Virgil down.” Logan started to stand.

“No adults!” Virgil almost screamed, causing the other three to flinch. 

“O-okay, Virgil do you mind if I come up and help you down? I have super strength so I won’t drop you! I promise.” Roman asked.

Virgil whimpered before nodding. 

“Take his shoe, the gloves and this scarf up with you.” Logan said before handing the scarf and gloves over.

Roman nodded, putting the scarf loosely around his neck and the gloves in his pocket. He walked over to the shoe before picking it up. He then looked to Logan and Janus, “You should get Janus back to Virgil and Patton's place. I’ll bring the emo, don’t worry.”

Janus and Logan looked at each other before nodding, “Okay. Virgil, we’re heading back to get Janus to Aunt May. Hopefully she’ll be home soon so she can look at your ankle too.” Logan stated.

Virgil mumbled a confirmation and the older two started making their exit.

“Is it okay if I come up now?” Roman asked.

“Yeah…” Virgil mumbled.

“I’m sorry for frightening you Virgil. I really didn’t mean to…” Roman said as he started to slowly climb. 

“I know you didn’t… My fight or Flight kicked in…” Virgil said as he watched Roman slowly climb the tree. 

“In that case though it was your fight and flight.” Roman joked, electing a tiny chuckle out of Virgil. Roman was so surprised he almost fell out of the tree.

“That was lame... “ Virgil mumbled.

“And that was the first time I heard you laugh..” Roman smiled up at him.

“It wasn’t a laugh!” Virgil grumbled as he looked away, hiding his blush. 

“Yeah okay emo~” Roman said in a sing-song voice.

“How are you even climbing this tree? Janus couldn’t even climb it..” Virgil asked.

“Well, I’m using my powers dear Virgil.” Roman said as he finally reached the smaller boy.

“But, I thought you were going to use your powers to get me down?” Virgil sounded concerned.

“Well Virgil, I call my power super strength because it’s easier to just say that, but in reality it’s my body turning energy into strength or whatever physical stuff I need it for. So I can heal myself and stuff like that.” Roman explained as he handed over the things he was carrying. 

“Then that’d make you even more tired than just using your powers…” Virgil frowned at Roman.

“I use it all the time, so I have good power control. Don’t be such a worry wart!” Roman rolled his eyes, keeping a big goofy smile on his face the whole time.

“Okay…” Virgil mumbled.

“How did you even get into this tree?” Roman asked as he waited for Virgil to get ready. 

“I jumped from a different tree.” Virgil said as he wrapped himself in the scarf. 

“Whyyyyy would you do that?” Roman whispered in shocked amazement. 

“Because.. That’s always how I get around the woods without you all finding me..” Virgil mumbled as he hid in the scarf. 

“You- you little!” Roman was flabbergasted, and without thinking reached up and flicked Virgil's nose. “Stop hiding from us out here! The woods can be dangerous! Geeze just be like a normal kid and run off to their room when they’re sulking - or the playground!” 

Virgil’s nose flared as he glared for a moment, but the glare quickly turned into a pout, "fine… Can we go in now? It’s freezing…”

“Sure thing ‘Virge’.” Roman said, his smile only growing when the nickname caused the boy to become flustered. 

“Don’t call me that…” Virgil said as he reached out. “Are we going to koala this?”

Roman laughed as he tilted his head to the side, “Koala?”

“Yeah, Koalas carry their young by holding them with one arm.” Virgil mumbled, even more embarrassed. 

“Sure, let’s koala this. At least until we get to the ground, then you’ll have to change to my back so it’s easier to walk.” Roman said as he accepted Virgil’s hug. He allowed the smaller boy to wrap his arms around his neck and his legs around his waist. “You ready?”

“Yeah?” Virgil said, though it sounded like a question.

“Real confident there bud.” Roman said as he started to climb down the tree.

The two stayed silent as Roman descended the tree, Roman from focus and Virgil from fear of distracting him. Once they reached the base of the tree Roman wrapped his hands around Virgil and brought him to a close by rock and sat him down.

“Do you want a moment?” Virgil asked, and when he saw the confusion from Roman he explained, “well, it must still be tasking.. Even if you can handle it…” 

“Oh.. Are you sure you’re okay with being out here longer than you have to?” Roman asked.

“I.. I’m used to the cold..” Was all Virgil said before scooting over and allowing Roman space to sit.

“Oh, I thought you were from around here?” Roman mumbled.

“I....” Virgil started to grow uncomfortable with the route the conversation was taking.

“You don’t have to talk about the past… You don’t owe anyone an explanation. If you do ever want to talk about it...You have all of us: Patton, Logan, Janus, Remus, and I. We’d all be more than willing to listen to you.” Roman spoke softly, he wasn’t smiling, but he had a genuine expression that caused Virgil to relax.

“Thank you.. I’m sorry I bit you…” Virgil mumbled as he looked down at Romans arm.

“It’s fine. I should have listened to you when you said stop.” Roman said before getting up, “Let’s go.” He turned and bent down for Virgil to climb on his back.

“Oh geez…” Virgil mumbled before climbing on. As Roman stood up Virgil started to squirm a bit.

“What are you doing?” Roman asked before feeling the scarf being wrapped around him. He looked back to find it looped between the two of them. “Aww, so sweet…” Roman all but cooed at the boy.

“Shut it… I just thought you might be cold…” Virgil grumbled before hiding his face from Roman.

“You know telling me to shut it has a lot less affect when you then hide your face in the crook of my neck.” Roman chuckled as he started to walk.

“I will bite you again…” Virgil growled softly, which only caused Roman to laugh.

“Sure thing kid.” Roman mumbled.

“Kid? I’m older than you by a year!” Virgil said as he pulled on Romans ear.

“Ah ah! Okay! Okay, I’m sorry.” Roman was smiling again though when he spoke it was with a pout.

Virgil responded with a grumble and nothing else. 

After that the two traveled in silence for the rest of the small trip. Unlike other times that the two had been left alone there wasn’t a feeling of hostility or anxiety in the air. Now they were just observed in their own thoughts.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This version of the story has no cussing, I am aware that some people dislike cussing so I made this version without cussing. There will also be violence in some of the chapters and I will be putting a warning in the beginning of that chapter then a summary of the events of said chapter in the end notes.
> 
> I really need to stop uploading chapters so late cause it's messing up my schedule for uploads, but it's so hard to focus during the day to get it done. ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) is a pain... Meh enjoy the chapter!

In reality it didn't take Virgil and Roman long to make it to the house, but with both of them absorbed in their thoughts - and in all honesty their slight dread of what will happen when they got back, it felt like a much longer walk.

Roman's dread stemmed from not wanting to see Aunt Mays and Uncle Drews reaction to the mess Roman had gotten them into. Roman knew that the two of them won't be upset with him, but the worry it'll cause them isn't something the two adults needed. Virgil's dread on the other hand most certainly came from the overwhelming group of people he has found himself being thrown into.

"Could I just stay outside? You could leave me in a bush." Virgil said as they stepped into the backyard. He poked his head out from behind Roman to pout at the back door.

"I'm not leaving you outside dude. I'll just take you to your room, tell the others you want to be alone.. They'll bring in the hot choco and blankets, but the others will leave you alone if I say you want to be alone. You could tell them yourself though." Roman muttered as he looked over his shoulder. Virgil grumbled and tucked his head back into the back of romans neck. "I'll take that as a no.... Which is fine."

"You all are back!" Patton shrieked as he threw the backdoor open. When Virgil flinched at the suddenness of Patton the younger boy made a sound that sounded kinda like "eep", before speaking in a much softer voice, "Sorry to scare you, are you okay Virgil?"

It was now Virgil's turn to make a weird noise before mumbling, "I'm fine."

"He twisted his ankle while jumping from tree to tree.. Wait what is that smell?" Roman stopped right outside the backdoor and sniffed the air.

"...Is that smoke?" Virgil asked as he looked up at the top of the door, smoke had started to slowly pour out.

"Oh... Yeah, Remus set the milk on fire." Patton chuckled softly before moving to let the both of them in.

"Howwww?" Roman asked as he stepped into the house.

Roman walked into the kitchen and sat Virgil down on the table. He turned to find his brother being scolded by Janus while Logan tried to smother the pan of milk that was on fire.

"Wow.." Virgil mumbled to himself, "It takes a special kind of stupid to be able to actually set milk on fire.."

Roman let out a surprised laugh before looking over at the older boy, "That's Remus for you." 

Virgil looked at him before lowering his head and grumbling something.

"Oh, you two are back." Logan said as he looked over.

"Yep. How are you holding Janus?" Roman asked.

"I'm fine now." Janus said as he smirked over at Roman and Virgil.

"I thought that you got pretty hurt though?" Virgil mumbled as he looked up and tilted his head to the side.

Janus smiled at him before chuckling, "I got some healing."

"Oh? Where's May?" Roman asked as he looked around.

"Mom's still out, I actually hadn't told you all yet, but my powers surfaced! I can heal like mama can!" Patton said as he beamed from next to Roman.

"Oh that's awesome!" Roman smiled at Patton before patting him on the back.

"Right, Patton. Do you have the energy to heal Virgil's ankle?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, I should be able to do that." Patton smiled over to his brother, "Is that okay?"

"You don't have to. It isn't that bad.." Virgil said before hopping of the table. He looked down at his ankle before lifting his leg up and moving it. "I'm used to worst." He said absentmindedly.

The others looked between each other. None of them knowing how to respond to that. Remus was the first to speak up, "Well we'll make more hot chocolate, you should go get warm." 

"I'll be making the hot chocolate. You lost your cooking privileges." Logan muttered.

"Is making hot chocolate even considered cooking?" Janus wondered out loud.

"How are we supposed to know?" Roman said as he raised an eyebrow.

"Logan knew what that closet thingy was called, so maybe he'll know?" Patton smiled as he turned to Logan.

"No clue." He said as he went about preparing to make the hot chocolate again.

"Hm... I'm going to go to my room. I'll see you guys later.." Virgil mumbled as he started inching towards the door.

"What about the hot coco?" Patton asked as he frowned. 

"I don't really want any.. Thank you all though.." Virgil bit his lip as he tired to resist the puppy dog eyes that Patton was giving him. 

"How about you go chill in your room and come out to have some? You can have a small mug of it, but it'll be good to warm you up." Janus spoke up when he noticed Virgil's resolve breaking down.

"Yeah, besides it's not like you dislike chocolate. You devour that stuff like it's candy!" Remus giggled.

"It is candy?" Logan looked back at Remus with a look of confusion on his face.

"Uh.." Virgil looked between everyone before looking to Roman who just gave him an encouraging smile. "...Okay."

It took fifteen minutes to finish making the hot chocolate, and in that time Remus, and Patton had managed to get themselves banished from the kitchen before deciding to build a blanket fort that ended up just being a pile of blankets on the ground. 

Roman watched them from the couch. He hadn't felt tired before they got back to the house, or when they were in the kitchen, but when he sat down on the couch and had a blanket thrown on him he found it hard to stay awake. He was unsure how Patton had so much energy after healing Janus, maybe he was just stronger than Roman? Roman would normally be upset at the thought of that, but now he was too tired to care.

"It's ready." Janus said as he brought in a small tray with four cups on them.

"Patton will you get Virgil?" Logan asked as he brought in the last two cups and a plate of cookies on a different tray. 

"Yep!" Patton said as he jumped up and ran into the hallway.

"You okay bro?" Remus asked as he popped up next to Roman, startling him.

Roman almost headbutted his twin, moving his head back instead so he could looked at him, "Yeah I'm fine. Just tired."

"Did you know you were staring at Patton?" Remus giggled.

"Wait really? Crap I was spacing out." Roman mumbled as he became flustered.

"Wow you have it bad.. I'm sure Patton didn't notice, he never notices." Janus said as he rolled his eyes and placed the cups down on the coffee table.

"Yeah, he's almost as bad as Logan!" Remus chuckled.

"Huh?" Logan blinked a few times, causing Roman to laugh. "Wait - no! I'm very observant!"

"Uhuh." The twins said in unison before sharing a look. He was just like Patton. God or whatever force is out there help the twins to have patients with those two.

"Awww you're so sweet!" the others heard Patton coo from the hallway.

"Is he talking to a ghost?" Remus asked as he looked towards the hallway.

"Shut up Remus." Janus quietly hissed. 

A minute later Virgil walked in followed by Patton, they were both holding stuffed animals.

"Um... I..." Virgil started to mutter as he hid his face in the stuffed animals he held.

"Go on Virgil." Patton giggled from behind the boy, which caused him to tense up slightly.

"Right, yeah - I wanted to thank you all for everything.. And apologize for running out, and worrying you all... And biting Roman.." Virgil said as he looked at the others. 

"You don't have to thank us or apologize." Roman said with a smile. 

"Erm, I want to.. Which. Here..." Virgil stumbled out before handing Remus and Roman a stuffed animal each, then taking two of the other ones from Patton and handing them to Janus and Logan.

They each looked at the stuffed animals before looking to each other and then Virgil.

"Are you giving these to us?" Janus asked.

"Yeah, if you want them..." Virgil nodded as he messed with his hoodie.

Roman looked at Virgil and then to the stuffed animal. It was a Lion with a fluffy mane and golden brown eyes. Roman couldn't help but smile up at Virgil, "Thanks kid." 

"grrr... Don't call me that..." Virgil pouted as he looked over at roman.

"Right sorry!" Roman laughed, "Hm, I'll have to come up with a nickname for you."

"Oh I can't wait..." Virgil mumbled.

"That's the spirit!" Patton said as he stood next to Virgil, "Can I hug you? As a thanks for the stuffed animals?" 

"Er.... Sure?" Virgil grimaced slightly as Patton bear hugged him.

"Hey, I like this thing, but what is it?" Remus asked as he held up his stuffed animal.

"I have no idea... I thought you'd like it though." Virgil mumbled as Patton let go of him.

"It's a honey badger... Why did you have a stuffed honey badger?" Logan looked at it with slight intrigue.

"Patton's parents got me a bunch of stuffed animals when I came here..." Virgil says as he curls up on the couch.

"Are you sure it's okay to give them away?" Janus asked as he looked down at his snake.

"Mom and dad said that he could get rid of any he didn't want, like give them away or stuff - so it should be fine. I was surprised you chose these though. These were some of the only ones you kept on your bed." Patton said.

"I thought these were cool..." Virgil mumbled as he shrugged.

"Oh are you sure you want to give these to use then?" Roman asked.

"Yeah. I think these suit you all..." Virgil mutters.

"You think a snake suits me?" Janus asked, amused.

"Snakes are cool.." Virgil said as he shifted in his spot

"Awesome, I'm a lion." Roman nodded.

"I'm a weird furry creature!" Remus laughed as he tossed it in the air and caught it again.

"An owl, because I'm intelligent?" Logan asked, a smile on his face.

"Yeah..." Virgil nods.

"A bear for me?" Patton asked.

"Bear hugs..." Virgil confirms.

"Ohhhh my god it's a pun!" Patton exclaims excitedly.

"Do you all want to watch a movie? I'm super tired and I don't feel up to doing anything" Roman says as he dramatically leans back in the chair. 

The others gave their confirmations and they started looking through the stacks of DVD's and VHS. After a while they settled back down to watch the movie(s) and drink the hot coco.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha! Flash back is over! It took three chapters and somewhere in the ballpark of 3,846 words, but I got it done.
> 
> I wanted to thank everyone for reading so far, but especially those who have left kudos, bookmarks the story, and comments. It has been hard to stay motivated normally, but it makes it so much easier with yalls support.
> 
> Happy Halloween!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope ya lovelys enjoyed this.


End file.
